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A   BIOGRAPHY  OF 


FRANCOIS   MAGENDIE 


FRANCOIS  MAGENDIE.  M.D. 
1783-1855- 


A        BIOGRAPHY        OF 


FRANgOIS  MAGENDIE 


By  PERCY  M.  DAWSON,  M.D. 

Associate  Professor  of  Physiology,  Johns  Hopkins  University 


ALBERT  T.  HUNTINGTON 

MCMVIII. 


QP1LM27 
D32 


Copyright,  1908 

Bv    ALBERT   T.   HUNTINGTON 


Published  January  30,  1908. 

Of  this  book  two  hundred 
and  fifty  copies  have  been 
printed,    of    which    this    is 

N0.& 


t-4 


to 

o 


To 

WILLIAM    H.  HOWELL, 
JOSEPH    ERLANGER, 
ERNEST    G.  MARTIN, 

and 
AUGUST  E.  GUENTHER, 

my  dear  colleagues  in  the  seminary,  this 
little    book    is    affectionately    dedicated. 


3& 


PREFACE 

IN  the  year  nineteen  hundred  and  four  the  members  of  the 
Seminary  of  the  Department  of  Physiology  at  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University  devoted  themselves  to  the  study  of  the 
lives  of  several  celebrated  physiologists.  At  that  time  I  under- 
took to  prepare  a  paper  on  the  life  and  work  of  Frangois  Magen- 
die.  After  revision,  this  paper  was  published  in  the  Medical 
Library  and  Historical  Journal  (1906,  iv,  pp.  45-56,  198-206, 
292-306,  364-377;  1907,  v,  pp.  24-33).  A.S  the  result  of  a  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  Albert  T.  Huntington,  the  editor  of  this  Journal, 
some  new  material  has  been  added  to  the  biography  and  the 
whole  is  now  published  in  the  present  volume. 

To  write  a  really  complete  and  satisfactory  biography  of 
Magendie,  one  should  have  read  far  more  extensively  in  the 
literature  of  the  time  than  I  have  done;  but  as  it  may  never  be 
my  lot  to  take  up  this  study  again,  I  have  thought  it  best  to  pub- 
lish the  work  just  as  it  is,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  be  of  interest 
to  the  reader  and  afford  a  point  of  departure  for  the  more  elabo- 
rate researches  of  some  future  biographer. 

It  is  an  agreeable  duty  for  me  to  ackowledge  with  thanks  my 
indebtedness  to  Dr.  Robert  Fletcher,  of  the  Library  of  the  Sur- 
geon General's  Office,  for  the  loan  of  several  books  relating  to 
Magendie ;  to  Prof.  Albert  P.  Brubaker,  of  Jefferson  Medical 
College,  Philadelphia,  for  some  very  interesting  data  concerning 
Megendie's  life  (p.  10)  and  for  the  medallion  portrait  (facing  p. 
34)  ;  to  Mr.  Huntington  for  the  portrait  (Frontispiece)  of 
Magendie,  and  for  much  valuable  aid  in  the  preparation  of  the 
bibliography  (see  Appendix) ;  to  Dr.  Henry  M.  Hurd,  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  and  Miss  Susan  E.  Coyle  for  many  use- 
ful criticisms  and  suggestions. 

Percy  M.  Dawson. 

Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore,  Md., 
October  19,  1907. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

BIBLIOGRAPHY    9 

FIRST  PERIOD,  1783-1809 11 

SECOND  PERIOD,  1809-1821 15 

Vitalis)n.    1809 15 

Early  Writings,  1809-1821 17 

Prize  in  Experimental  Physiology,  1819 19 

THIRD  PERIOD,   1821-1855 21 

Journal   and    Controversy 21 

The  Journal  of  Experimental  Physiology, 1821-18^1  21 

The  Bcll-Magendie  Controversy,  1822  and  1847. .  .  24 

The   Academy,    1821-1855 29 

Committees  for   Verification 29 

Committees  on  Prizes 30 

"Gelatin,"  Hippiatric  and  Other  Commissions. .. .  31 

Memoirs,  the  "Comptes  Rendus" 35 

Personality  of  the  Academician,  Magendie 38 

Medical  Practice    43 

"The  Great  Idol  of  Human  Credulity" 43 

The  College  de  France 46 

Nomination,    1830    46 

Cholera  in  Peris,  1832 48 

Lectures,    1832-1852    50 

Relation  of  Magendie  to  His  Students 51 

Vivisection    53 

The  Last  Decade 56 

Resignation  from  the  Hotel-Dieu  56 

Death  of  Magendie,  1855 57 

MAGENDIE'S  ROLE  IN  SCIENCE 59 

APPENDIX    61 

Titles  of  Magendie's  publications  arranged  chronologi- 
cally      61 


A   BIOGRAPHY   OF 

FRANCOIS   MAGENDIE 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

There  are  seven  principal  sources  of  information  with  regard 
to  Magendie's  life  and  work. 

(i)  "Fr.  Magendie.  Legon  d'ouverture  dvi  cours  de  medecine 
du  College  de  France.  (29  fevrier  1856.)"  8vo.  Paris,  1856. 
This  address  was  delivered  by  Claude  Bernard  and  to  it  was 
appended  an  incomplete  list  of  the  writings  of  Magendie. 

(2)  "Eloge  historique  de  Frangois  Magendie,  suivi  d'une 
discussion  sur  les  titres  respectifs  de  Bell  et  Magendie  a  la  de- 
couverte  des  fonctions  distinctes  des  racines  des  nerfs."  8vo. 
Paris,  1858.  This  "Eloge"  was  delivered  at  the  annual  public  meet- 
ing of  the  Academic  des  Sciences  (Feb.  8,  1858)  by  Jean-Pierre- 
Marie  Flourens,  the  permanent  secretary  of  the  Academy.  Here 
also  is  given  a  list  of  Magendie's  publications  but  it  seems, 
however,  to  be  only  a  copy  of  Bernard's  list.  The  address  was 
also  printed  in  the  Go^.  med.  de  Paris,  1858,  3.  s.,  xiii,  93-106. 
Both  address  and  discussion  were  translated  into  English  by  C. 
A.  Alexander  and  published  in  the  annual  Report  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  1866,  91-125. 

(3)  "Fr.  Magendie"  among  the  "Eloges  lus  dans  les  seances 
publiques  de  I'Academie  de  Medecine  (1845-63),"  by  E.-F.  Du- 
bois, the  permanent  secretary  of  the  Academy.  Two  volumes  of 
these  addresses  were  published  in  Paris  in  1864,  that  on  Magendie 
being  in  vol.  ii,  pp.  116-200.  The  address  was  also  printed  in  the 
following  periodicals:  Gaz.  des  hop.,  Paris,  1857,  xxx,  590-92; 
Gas.  med.  de  Paris,  1857,  3,  s.,  xii,  793-814;  Mem.  Acad,  de 
med.,  Paris,  1858,  xxii,  pp.  i-xxxvi ;  and  Rev.  therap.  med.- 
chir.,  Paris,  1858,  pp.  24,  53  and  77. 

Eyries   (Biog.  universelle   [Michaud]   ancienne  et  moderne, 
Paris,  xxiv,  31)  and  L.  Herman  (La  grande  Encyclopedic,  Paris, 


lO  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

xxii,  994)  seem  to  have  derived  their  material  from  the  three  pre- 
ceding sources,  for  their  articles  contain  no  additional  information. 

(4)  Journal  de  physiol.   exper.    (et  path.),   i-x,   1821-1830. 

(5)  Comptes  rendus  hebdom.  de  I'Acad.  des  Sc,  i-xlii,  1835- 
1856. 

(6)  Three  letters  received  by  Professor  Brubaker,  of  the 
Jefferson  Medical  College,  of  Philadelphia.  These  were  written 
respectively  by  the  "Archiviste  de  la  Seine,"  the  "Conservateur 
de  Pere  Lachaise,"  and  the  "Conservateur  du  Cimetiere  de  San- 
nois,"  and  were  answers  to  enquiries  made  by  Professor  Bru- 
baker. 

(7)  The  works  of  Magendie  himself. 


For  convenience  the  following  abbreviations  have  been  adopt- 
ed in  the  foot-notes  of  this  volume : 

B  —  Eloge  de  Bernard  (i). 

C  =^  Comptes  rend.,  etc.  (5). 

D  =  Eloge  de  Dubois  (3). 

F  ^    "         "     Flourens  (2). 

J    ^  Jour,  de  physiol.  c.vpcr.,  etc.  (4). 

The  figures  in  parentheses  found  in  the  text  refer  to  the  titles 
of  Magendie's  publications  as  given  in  the  Appendix. 


FIRST   PERIOD,  1783-1809 


Franqois  Magendie  was  born  on  October  15,  1783,  in  Bor- 
deaux. While  he  was  yet  an  infant,  his  mother,  Marie-Victoire 
de  Peray-Delaunay,  died  of  an  acute  ilhiess.  His  father,  Antoine 
Magendie,^  originally  of  Bearne,  was  a  surgeon,  who  in  1792 
came  to  Paris  bringing  with  him  the  little  Franqois,  then  only  nine 
years  old."  At  that  time  there  was  in  Paris  but  one  all-absorbing 
idea,  one  topic  of  conversation,  namely,  social  regeneration ;  and 
Antoine  Magendie  was  soon  among  the  foremost  of  the  ultra-re- 
publicans. "A  man  of  upright  purpose,"  but  incapable  of  allow- 
ing any  folly  to  pass  without  taking  his  share  in  it,  he  imagined 
that  in  order  to  endow  his  son  with  a  civic  energy  corresponding 
to  the  elevation  of  his  own  principles,  it  was  necessary  to  educate 
him  according  to  the  precepts  delivered  by  Jean- Jacques.*  The 
new  Emile,  left  to  his  own  devices,  wandered  at  will,  with  a  lib- 
erty which  strongly  resembled  absolute  abandonment.  In  order 
to  preserve  him  from  instructions  which  might  warp  his  judg- 
ment, he  was  left,  on  principle  of  education,  in  complete  igno- 
rance. His  only  resource  as  regards  the  world  of  intelligence 
was  observation,  which  alone,  said  his  guide,  could  secure  him 
entire  independence. 

"Finding,  perhaps  with  reason,  less  difficulty  in  reforming 
abuses  than  in  combating  maladies,  the  enthusiastic  patriot  had 
abandoned  a  practice  v/hich  only  bored  him,  for  the  more  con- 
genial pursuit  of  unremunerative  civic  appointments.^    With  his 

'  Born  at  Pontaque,  1746,  son  of  Laurent  Magendie  and  Marie  Caza- 
jous;  died  at  rue  de  Verneuil  No.  32,  Paris,  May  17,  1813. 

2 It  has  been  stated  that  Antoine  Magendie  married  again  and  that  the 
step-mother  took  but  little  interest  in  the  young  Frangois.  (Med.  Times 
and  Gasette,  London,  1855,  N.  S.,  xi,  558  and  583.) 

'  Flourens.  Unless  otherwise  stated  the  quotations  in  this  chapter 
are  from  this  authority  (see  Bibliography). 

*  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau :  "Emile  ou  de  I'Education,"  published  in 
Paris  and  the  Low  Countries,  1662. 

■>  Antoine  Magendie  was  mayor  of  the  tenth  "arrondissement"  and  a 
member  of  the  board  of  hospital  administration,  etc. — F.,  p.  134.  The 
tenth  "arrondissement"  comprises  the  quarters  Saint- Vincent  de  Paul, 
Porte-Saint-Denis,  Porte-Saint-Martin  and  Hopital-Saint-Louis. 


12  A   BIOGRAPHY  OF   FRANCOIS   MAGENDIE. 

practice  went  the  comforts  of  the  household,  but  what  imported 
such  a  sacrifice  as  this  ?  The  exaggeration  of  patriotism  and  the 
reality  of  discomfort  proceeded  to  such  lengths  that  he  would 
have  constrained  his  pupil,  while  seeking  to  persuade  him  that  this 
would  be  a  further  step  towards  independence,  to  make  his  own 
shoes.  At  this  point  the  good  sense  of  the  boy  revolted ;  he  pro- 
tested against  all  these  follies :  declared  that  he  preferred  to  be  de- 
pendent and  well-shod,  and  concluded  by  asking  to  be  sent  to 
school. 

"The  primary  school  had  no  pupil  more  ardent ;  admitted  late 
and  endowed  with  an  energetic  will,  the  young  Magendie  quickly 
outstripped  all  competitors.  His  father  was  not  at  all  shocked 
at  the  inequality  which  his  son  found  the  means  of  establishing 
from  the  first ; . . .  and  clapped  his  hands  on  hearing  that  the  great 
prize  had  been  awarded  to  this  neophyte  of  fourteen  for  a  compo- 
sition 'On  the  Knowledge  of  the  Rights  of  Man  and  of  the 
Constitution.'* 

"The  Journal  des  Hommes  Litres''  soon  afterwards  an- 
nounced "that  there  was  still  hope  for  the  most  tender  age,  when 
the  corrupting  poisons  of  the  reaction  had  not  blighted  it  in  its  first 
bloom,  since  the  son  of  citizen  Magendie,  municipal  officer,  elec- 
tor, member  of  the  commune,  etc.,  having  met  with  a  child  who 
was  weeping  and  dared  not  appear  in  the  presence  of  his  father, 
had  comforted,  encouraged  and  carried  him  back  to  the  bosom 
of  his  family.'  A  pri.v  de  vcrtu,  ostentatiously  awarded  on  this 
occasion,  completed  the  glorification  of  the  young  republican... 

"According  to  the  almost  universal  practice  of  those  who 
preach  liberty,  the  father  of  Magendie  reserved  the  exclusive 
use  of  it  for  himself.  He  announced  to  his  son  that  in  order  not 
to  derogate  from  the  family  dignity,  he  must  prepare  to  invest 
himself  with  the  robe  and  bonnet  of  the  doctor."  Accordingly 
Magendie  began  the  study  of  medicine,  entering  the  Paris  hos- 
pitals at  the  age  of  fifteen.'  Through  his  father's  influence  he 
became  a  pupil  of  Alexis  Boyer,®  who  was  at  that  time  second 
surgeon  to  the  Charite  and  professor  of  clinical  surgery  at  the 
Ecole  de  Sante,  an  institution  founded  in  1795  by  the  elite  among 
the  physicians  and   surgeons   of  the   capital.     Boyer   soon   per- 

«  "De  la  connaissance  des  droits  de  I'homme  et  de  la  constitution." 

'  5  germinal,  an  vi. 

«  This  is  the  age  given  by  Eyries :  "Magendie"  in  "Biographic  uni- 
verselle  (Michaud)  ancienne  et  moderne,"  Paris,  xxvi,  p.  31.  Sixteen 
years  is  the  age  given  by  the  Med.  Times  and  Gazette,  loc.  cit. 

«Le  baron  Alexis  Boyer  (i  757"  1833)- 


FIRST  PERIOD,   I783-1809.  1 3 

ceived  the  young  man's  worth  and  made  him  his  prosector. 
Later,  at  the  examination  which  took  place  on  "7  Floreal,  An 
xi"^"  (1803),  he  obtained  an  appointment  as  hospital  interne. 
In  this  new  position  he  continued  his  labors  with  characteristic 
energy  and  zeal. 

With  his  medical  studies  he  now  combined  literature,  for  since 
he  had  been  taught  none  of  the  ancient  languages  he  was  de- 
sirous of  supplying  this  deficiency.  This  he  did  by  means  of  the 
excellent  courses  given  by  M.  Lemare,  which  were  attended  by 
some  of  his  most  distinguished  contemporaries. 

The  salons  which  the  storm  of  the  revolution  had  temporarily 
closed  had  now  opened  again.  There  "through  the  memory  of 
a  common  calamity,  all  were  friends"  and  there  Magendie  "was 
received  as  a  young  man  of  taste  and  worth,  and  there  he  dis- 
sembled, with  truly  Roman  stoicism,  the  distress  of  his  situation. 
'Yet,'  as  he  himself  would  jocosely  say  in  aftertimes,  'during  a 
period  which  seemed  no  short  one,  there  remained  for  me,  all 
deductions  made,  not  more  than  five  sous  a  day  to  live  upon ; 
and  still  I  had  a  dog.  We  shared  with  one  another;  and  if  he 
was  not  fat,  neither  was  I.' " 

In  the  course  of  time  Magendie  became  assistant  and  then, 
after  a  brilliant  examination,  prosector  to  the  Faculty.  "His  dex- 
terity as  an  anatomist,  his  coolness,  his  hardihood,  gave  presage 
of  a  superior  surgeon."  "For  a  while  he  gave  courses  in  opera- 
tive surgery,  which  were  well  attended.  He  even  devised  a  new 
operation  for  the  resection  of  the  lower  jaw.""  "But  the  life 
of  compulsory  fellowship,  of  equality  reduced  to  practice,  the  con- 
tact of  rivalries  never  divested  of  the  weapons  of  attack,  proved 
an  intolerable  ordeal  for  his  austere  and  imperious  nature."  It 
has  also  been  stated  that  he  was  about  to  compete  for  the  post  of 
surgeon  at  the  General  Board  of  the  Paris  Hospitals  but  was 
induced  to  abandon  the  idea  by  Dupuytren'-  who  considered  him 
a  dangerous  rival. '^  However  this  may  be,  Magendie  renounced 
his  intention  of  becoming  a  surgeon. 

He  brooded  with  so  melancholy  a  spirit  over  the  obstacles 

"D:  p.  122. 
"B:    p.   18. 

12  Baron  Guillaume  Diipuytren,  born  in  1777,  became  in  1803  sec- 
ond surgeon  at  the  Hotel-Dieu  and  in  1815  surgeon-in-chief.  In  181 1 
he  became  professor  of  anatomy  in  the  Ecole  de  Medecine,  an  institution 
founded  in  1795  for  the  purpose  of  training  surgeons  for  the  army. — 
Richeraud :  Biog.  univers.  Michaud,  xii,  p.  60.     Paris,  1855. 

13  Med.  Times  and  Gazette,  loc.  cit. 


14  A   BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

before  him  that  his  retreat  was  invaded  by  that  bitter  discourage- 
ment which  long  suffering  entails — Magendie  wished  to  live  no 
longer.  One  morning,  however,  a  lawyer  presented  himself  at 
the  asylum  of  the  student.  "Why,"  cried  the  young  man  in 
surprise,  "I  have  neither  lawsuit  nor  business,  what  do  you  want 
with  me?"  "Nothing,"  replied  the  stranger,  "that  can  be  dis- 
agreeable to  you.  You  have  become  heir  to  a  sum  of  twenty 
thousand  francs,  and  I  am  here  to  place  it  at  your  disposal." 
All  at  once  the  good  spirits  of  Magendie  returned ;  he  "immedi- 
ately made  arrangements  for  the  acquisition  of  pretty  horses  and 
attractive  dogs,  all  placed  in  the  care  of  a  sprightly  and  fash- 
ionable groom,  who  was  charged  besides  with  the  duty  of  keep- 
ing a  light  equipage  always  in  readiness  for  the  use  of  the  im- 
provident but  joyous  owner  of  these  superfluities.  That  not 
a  moment  of  this  transient  prosperity  might  be  lost,  and  at  the 
same  time  no  encroachment  upon  his  work  be  allowed,  he  had 
all  of  these  paraphernalia  lodged  as  near  as  possible  to  the  hospi- 
tal. 'Thither,'  said  M.  Magendie  afterwards,  'I  used  to  run  when 
I  had  a  moment  to  spare,  so  that  my  whole  recreation  was  liter- 
ally centered  in  the  stable.'  The  twenty  thousand  francs  were, 
of  course,  soon  spent,  but  a  little  relaxation  does  much  good ;  it 
had  renewed  the  elasticity  of  his  spirit." 

His  money  gone,  Magendie  found  it  necessary  to  become  a 
practicing  physician  "in  spite  of  himself."  "  In  1808  he  received 
his  doctorate,  his  inaugural  dissertation  being  on  fracture  of  the 
cartilage  of  the  ribs  and  on  the  movements  of  the  palate  (i) 
Doubtless  a  rather  unique  figure  among  the  physicians  of  his  or 
indeed  of  any  time,  he  refused  to  bow  before  what  he  called  the 
"the  great  idol  of  human  credulity."''^  But  as  yet  Magendie's 
notions  had  little  weight  in  the  medical  world  and  moreover  he 
soon  gave  himself  almost  entirely  to  the  science  of  his  choice, 
experimental  physiology. 

"F:   p.  II. 

15  "La  grande  idole  de  la  credulite  humaine." 


SECOND   PERIOD,    1809-1821 


Vitalism. 

The  question,  What  is  life?  has  been  answered  in  two  differ- 
ent ways.  "On  the  one  hand  '°  stand  the  vitalists,  who  see  in  the 
phenomena  of  Hfe  only  special  actions,  having  no  relation  to  the 
usual  laws  of  chemistry  and  physics  but  accomplished  through 
a  peculiar  force  called  life,  vital  force,  and  so  forth ;  on  the  other 
are  the  materialists,  iatro-mechanicians,  or  chemists  as  they  have 
been  variously  styled,  who  see  in  these  manifestations  of  life 
nothing  but  the  phenomena  of  ordinary  chemistry  and  physics 
subject  to  the  ordinary  laws  which  govern  these  phenomena  out- 
side the  organism. 

"In  France  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  medi- 
cine and  physiology  were  dominated  by  the  anatomico-vitalistic 
ideas  of  Bicliat  which  were  then  reacting  against  the  iatro-me- 
chanical  and  chemical  theories  of  Borelli,  Sylvius  de  la  Boe,  Boer- 
haave  and  others."  Bichat,  "a  man  of  astonishing  genius,  physi- 
ologist-anatomist par  excellence,  created  general  anatomy  and  at 
the  same  stroke  anatomical  physiology. ...  In  his  'General  Anat- 
omy' ^^  he  tried  to  realize  a  vast  conception  which  consisted  in 
reducing,  just  as  in  the  recently  established  field  of  chemistry, 
anatomical  tissues  and  physiological  phenomena  to  certain  sim- 
ple elements."  He  attributed  "all  the  functions  of  life  to  those 
peculiar  properties  of  each  living  tissue,  which  he  designated 
under  the  name  of  vital  properties,  as  distinct  from  physical  or 
chemical  properties. . .  'There  are  in  nature,'^'  said  he,  'two  classes 
of  objects,  two  classes  of  properties.  The  objects  are  organic 
and  inorganic,  the  properties  are  vital  and  non-vital.  Sensibility, 
contractility,  these  are  vital  properties.  Weight,  elasticity,  affin- 
ity, these  are  non-vital  properties.'  To  each  of  the  systems  of 
anatomical  tissues  correspond  certain  definite  vital  properties,  and 
each  phenomenon  of  life  has  necessarily,  as  its  origin,  a  vital  prop- 
erty which  is  only  the  functional  manifestation  of  the  tissues. . ." 

1"  B  :   p.  3  ^/  seq. 

"  Anatomic  generale,  applique  a  la  physiologie  et  a  la  medicine.  Paris, 
l802,  2V.    8vo. 

"B:   pp.  s-6. 


l6  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANCOIS    MAGENDIE. 

"Such  a  generalization  in  which  everything  was  united  by  logi- 
cal deduction,  anatomical  structure  and  vital  property,  physi- 
ological and  pathological  phenomena,  was  well  calculated  to  se- 
duce and  enthral  all  minds.  .  .But  Bichat  died,"  in  1802,  "having 
hardly  had  time  to  deliver  to  posterity  the  fruits  of  his  genius, 
and  his  immediate  successors,  launched  on  this  slippery  declivity 
of  anatomical  deduction,  contented  themselves  with  their  creations 
of  systems ;  and  experimentation,  which  can  alone  permit  us  to 
decide  the  question  and  prevent  us  from  error,  was  lost  to  view. 
Not  only  the  system  of  exhaling  vessels,  the  vital  properties  of 
sensible,  organic  and  animal  contractility  and  so  forth  were  ac- 
cepted as  realities,  but  the  imagination,  always  aided  by  some 
sort  of  logic  the  better  to  captivate  the  reason,  had  invented 
a  horde  of  other  properties  still  more  imaginary.  Finally  every- 
one wished  to  have  a  special  vital  force  for  the  least  phenomenon 
of  the  organism,  and  by  this  tendency  all  physicians  were  blindly 
carried  away." 

Such  was  the  condition  of  physiology  in  France  when  in  1809 
Magendie's  first  publication  appeared,  under  the  title  of  "Some 
general  ideas  upon  the  phenomena  peculiar  to  living  bodies"  (2). 
Cool,  unenthusiastic,  skeptical,  Magendie  was  not  drawn  into  the 
common  whirlpool,  and  this  first  publication  was  a  severe  criticism 
of  the  "vital  properties"  of  Bichat,  "especially  the  strange  abuses 
which  his  successors  had  made  of  them  in  multiplying  them  ad 
infinitum.  'Why  then,'  said  he,  'is  it  necessary  in  respect  to  every 
phenomenon  of  the  living  body  to  invent  a  peculiar  and  special 
vital  force?  Cannot  one  be  content  with  a  single  force  which 
one  could  designate  vital  force  in  a  general  way,  while  admitting 
that  it  gives  rise  to  diflferent  phenomena  depending  on  the  struc- 
ture of  the  organs  and  tissues  which  function  under  its  influence? 
But  is  not  this  single  vital  force  still  too  much?  Is  it  not  an 
hypothesis  pure  and  simple,  inasmuch  as  we  are  unable  to  perceive 
it?  And  would  it  not  be  more  advantageous  if  physiology  began 
only  when  the  phenomena  of  the  living  body  became  appreciable 
to  the  senses  ?  '"  " 

Surrounded  by  a  carnival  of  rampant  speculation,  Magendie 
developed  an  extraordinary  repulsion  for  all  theories.  When 
any  one  spoke  to  him  of  medical  doctrine  or  theory,  he  showed 
instinctively  a  feeling  of  horror.  It  produced  upon  him  the  effect 
of  a  false  note  upon  the  trained  ear  of  a  musician.  His  reply 
was  always  the  same.    "All  that,"  he  used  to  say,  "is  nothing  but 

"  B :  pp.  7-8. 


SECOND  PERIOD,  1809-182I.  1? 

words  1 " — "To  express  an  opinion,  to  believe,"  wrote  Magendie, 
"is  nothing  else  than  to  be  ignorant. . .  One  could  with  justice  say 
to  you  'You  believe,  therefore  you  don't  know.  ' "  ^° 

Early  IVritings. 

Magendie  now  began  to  show  a  prodigious  activity.  Within 
the  next  five  years  he  published  seven  memoirs,  four  of  which 
were  read  before  the  Academy.  In  these  the  author  dealt  with  a 
great  variety  of  topics.  In  his  study  of  tlie  organs  of  absorption 
in  the  mammalia  (3)  he  demonstrated  by  means  of  a  series  of  in- 
genious experiments  the  power  of  the  veins  to  absorb  poisons 
injected  into  the  tissues.  He  showed  that  the  stomach  was  not 
necessary  for  the  act  of  vomiting  (6)  and  that  swallowing  might 
take  place  without  the  aid  of  the  epiglottis  (9).  The  remaining 
memoirs  were  on  pulmonary  transpiration  (5),  on  examination 
of  images  in  the  fundus  oculi  (7),  on  emetics  (8),  and  on  the 
function  of  the  oesophagus  (10). 

Consequently,  when  in  1814  Magendie,  who  had  been  twice 
designated  by  the  conscription,  was  again  summoned,  the  Acad- 
emy interposed  in  view  of  his  prospective  services  and  requested 
his  exemption.  This  was  accordingly  granted  by  a  special  de- 
cree dated  March  5th  of  that  year.  "You  owe  this  favor," 
wrote  M.  de  Motalivet,  Minister  of  the  Interior,  "to  the  success 
which  you  have  achieved  in  the  sciences,  and  I  doubt  not  that 
you  will  redouble  your  efforts  to  render  yourself  more  and  more 
worthy  of  it." "'  Magendie  soon  showed  that  the  confidence 
of  the  Academy  had  not  been  misplaced. 

Before  1821,  the  year  in  which  he  became  an  academician, 
Magendie  published  nine  more  monographs.  In  one  of  these 
(13)  he  showed  the  necessity  of  the  presence  of  nitrogen  in  the 
food  and  emphasized  the  importance  of  a  varied  diet.  From  his 
study  of  the  circulation  (16),  he  concluded  that  those  persons 
are  in  error  who  afSrm  that  the  arteries  possess  the  power  of  in- 
dependent rhythmic  contractility. 

The  monographs  on  the  deglutition  of  air  (12)  and  on  the 
mechanism  of  absorption  in  the  mammalia  (24)  were  among 
those  read  before  the  Academy.  There  was  also  a  paper  on  the 
lymphatics  of  birds  (21)  and  another  on  the  gases  in  the  human 
intestine  (14).  In  the  investigation  of  ipecacuanha  (15)  which 
Magendie  carried  out  in  company  with  Pelletier,  emetin,  the  active 
principle  of  the  drug,  was  discovered,  and  his  interest  in  pharma- 

so  j_ 

"D:   p.  125. 


l8  A   BIOGRAPHY  OF  FRANgOIS   MAGENDIE. 

cological  problems  was  further  shown  by  three  other  memoirs 
on  strychnia  (22),  on  the  salts  of  morphia  (18)  and  on  hydro- 
cyanic acid  in  the  treatment  of  phthisis  (20).  During  this  period 
Magendie  also  published  three  books  through  which  he  soon 
obtained  an  international  reputation. 

The  first  of  these  was  his  "Text-book  of  Physiology"  (11), 
a  work  which  appeared  in  two  octavo  volumes,  containing  so 
much  good  sense  and  sound  science  that  even  to-day  they  are 
found  attractive  reading.  The  attitude  of  the  author  and  the 
object  which  he  had  in  view  may  be  gathered  from  the  preface, 
some  passages   of   which   run   somewhat   as   follows :  -- 

"The  physical  sciences,  with  scarcely  a  single  exception,  were 
systematic  until  the  time  of  Galileo  and  Bacon.  From  that 
period,  and  in  a  great  degree  from  the  influence  of  the  writings 
of  the  illustrious  Bacon,  they  have  undergone  a  most  salutary 
change.  From  being  systematic  and  synthetic,  they  have  become 
theoretic  and  analytic ;  and  from  that  period  their  march  to- 
wards perfection   has   been  extremely   rapid. 

"It  is  unpleasant  but  it  is  at  the  same  time  necessary  to  re- 
mark that  in  the  midst  of  this  general  progress  of  the  sciences, 
physiology,  that  important  branch  of  human  learning,  still  re- 
tains its  systematic  form."  "What  is  the  consequence  of  all  this? 
— It  is  that  physiology,  brilliant  as  it  appears  in  our  modem 
treatises  and  notwithstanding  the  improvements  which  it  has 
derived  from  the  talents  of  many  distinguished  men,  is  a  science 
still  in  its  cradle." 

Further  on  he  continues :  "One  will  especially  find  in  this 
book  facts,  the  truth  of  which  I  have  done  all  in  my  power  to 
establish  as  definitely  as  possible,  by  observations  upon  man  in 
a  healthy  or  morbid  state,  and  by  experiments  upon  living 
animals." 

"In  concluding  it  is  proper  to  remark  that  this  book  is  solely 
designed  for  students  of  medicine.  If  they  find  here,  in  terms 
clear  and  simple,  all  that  is  positively  known  of  physiology, 
I  shall  have  accomplished  the  object  which  I  have  proposed  to 
myself." 

This  work  was  deservedly  popular.  Between  1817  and  1836 
it  went  through  four  editions  in  Paris.  Between  1822  and  1844 
there  appeared  three  American  editions ;  while  two  German 
translations  were  published  in  Tubingen  in  1826  and  1836, 
respectively. 

22  Precis  elementaire  de  physiologie.     Paris,  1816.    Vol.  I,  p.  ii  et  seq. 


SECOND  PERIOD,  1809-182I.  I9 

The  second  book,  published  in  1818,  was  the  first  edition 
of  his  work  on  "Gravel  and  Its  Treatment"  (17).  This  was  sub- 
sequently translated  into  German  and  Dutch.  In  it  Magendie 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  most  gravels  and  many  stones 
are  composed  of  uric  acid,  a  substance  rich  in  nitrogen,  whence 
he  concludes  that  a  diet  poor  in  nitrogen  is  the  proper  one  for 
persons  suffering  from  these  maladies. 

Lastly  may  be  mentioned  the  publication  two  years  later  of 
the  famous  "Formulary"  (23),  in  which  he  discussed  the  action 
and  preparation  of  a  large  number  of  drugs  which  were  at  that 
time  new  or  almost  new  to  the  profession.  Among  these  were 
strychnia,  morphia,  iodine,  potassium  iodide,  prussic  acid,  veratria, 
sulphate  of  quinine,  croton  oil,  and  so  forth.  The  popularity  of 
this  work  is  attested  by  the  many  translations  and  editions  which 
have  appeared,  namely :  Paris,  7  editions ;  Amsterdam,  i  ;  Leipzig, 
i;  London,  3:  Philadelphia,  2;  New  York,  2;  Milan,  i;  Pesaro, 
I ;  and  Fahlun  (Sweden),  i. 

The  Prize  in  Experimental  Physiology. 

Meanwhile  Magendie's  intense  aversion  to  all  hypotheses,  to- 
gether with  his  devotion  to  the  experimental  method,  seems  to 
have  won  for  him  the  friendship  of  the  great  Laplace.^'  The  latter 
"wished  that  all  science  should  consist  of  nothing  more  than  an 
assemblage  of  facts  rigorously  concatenated  ;  and  having,  accord- 
ing to  the  happy  expression  of  Cuvier,  'subjected  the  heavens  to 
geometry,'  he  probably  did  not  despair  of  establishing  the  same 
order  of  things  on  earth."  ^*  Indeed,  Laplace  had  maintained  be- 
fore the  Academy  that  the  two  sciences  most  worthy  of  the  atten- 
tion of  great  minds  were  physiology  and  astronomy,  and  added, 
"If  I  put  physiology  in  the  first  place,  it  is  not  only  because  it 
still  awaits  its  Newton. "-'*  Magendie,  "confident  in  his  own 
strength,  held  himself  aloof  with  a  disdainful  pride"  from  his 
contemporaries.  "But  one  day  the  illustrious,  the  stiff,  the  judi- 
cious Marquis  de  Laplace  volunteered  the  first  advances  toward 
him,"  and  at  the  few  words  of  encouragement  which  fell  from  the 
lips  of  this  great  man,  Magendie,  "who  thought  himself  secure 
from  all  enthusiasm,  was  only  the  more  carried  away  by  it." 

-3  Pierre  Simon,  Marquis  de  Laplace,  1749-1827.  Became  professor  of 
mathematics  at  the  military  school  in  Paris,  and  in  1773  member  of  the 
Academy  of   Sciences.     Best  known   as  an   astronomer  and  geometrician. 

-^F:   p.  21. 

2°  Dedication  of  "Recherches  sur  les  ossements  fossiles." 


20  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANQOIS    MAGENDIE. 

"It  was  not  long  after  this  that  Laplace  said  to  his  old  friend 
Montyon :-"  'It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  learned  societies 
have  not  at  their  disposal  the  means  of  sustaining  the  zeal  of  en- 
quirers who  have  established  themselves  in  the  right  method  of 
procedure:  the  young  Magendie,  for  instance,  who  gives  to  his 
physiological  labors  the  invariable  basis  of  experiment,  de- 
serves to  be  encouraged.'  'Are  not  your  own  exhortations  the 
most  powerful  encourageiTLents  ?'  was  the  reply.  'They  are  not 
sufficient,'  answered  Laplace;  'for  those  who  aspire  to  reach  our 
academies  there  should  be  graduated  approaches,  which  would 
consist  of  competitions  and  prizes.'  The  prize  for  experimental 
physiology  was  thereupon  established  -'  by  the  aged  philanthro- 
pist and  Magendie  was  the  first  to  be  distinguished  by  it."  ^* 

-"  Antoine-Jean-Baptiste-Robert-Atigat  de  Montyon,  1733-1820,  became 
councillor  of  state  in  1775.  He  lived  for  many  years  in  England  and 
became  a  member  of  the  Royal  Society.  He  was  devoted  to  the  king,  with 
whom  he  returned  to  Paris. 

2'  This  foundation  received  the  authorization  of  the  king,  July  22, 
1818. 

28  F:    p.  28. 


THIRD   PERIOD,  1821-1855 


JOURNAL  AND  CONTROVERSY. 

The  Journal  of  Experimental  Physiology,  1821-18J1. 

In  Paris  during  the  early  part  of  the  last  century  many 
new  medical  and  scientific  periodicals  were  added  to  the 
considerable  number  already  in  existence.  The  facilities 
for  the  publication  of  work  in  physiology  and  experi- 
mental medicine  seem  to  have  been  excellent,  and  Magendie  at 
first  availed  himself  of  them.  He  contributed  to  the  Journal 
Universel  des  Sciences  Medicales,  the  Nouvcau  Bulletin  de  la 
Societe  Philoinatique,  the  Annales  de  Chiinie  et  de  Physique, 
the  Nouveait  Journal  de  Mcdecinc,  etc.,  but  chiefly  to  that  famous 
periodical  edited  by  Boyer,  Velpeau  and  Leroux  in  which  five  of 
Magendie's  monographs  appeared.  There  was,  however,  at  that 
time  no  journal  devoted  exclusively  to  experimental  medicine, 
and  probably  it  soon  appeared  to  Magendie  that  there  was  room 
for  such  a  publication.  Be  this  as  it  may,  in  June,  1821,  appeared 
the  first  number  of  his  Journal  de  Physiologic  Experimentale,  or, 
as  it  was  subsequently  called.  Journal  de  Physiologic  Experi- 
mentale et  Pathol ogiquc* 

From  the  title-page  of  this  new  journal  we  learn  that  at  this 
time  Magendie  was  physician  of  the  central  bureau  of  admis- 
sions to  the  civil  hospitals  and  infirmaries  in  Paris-",  member  of 
the  Philomathic  Society,  of  the  Societe  Medicale  d'Emulation,  and 
also  member  of  the  medical  societies  of  Stockholm,  Copenhagen, 
Wilna,  Dublin,  Philadelphia,^''  etc. 

The  introduction  to  the  first  number,  which  is  here  partly 
quoted  and  partly  paraphrased,  runs  as  follows :     "The  two  cen- 

*  Journal  de  Physiologic  Experimentale  et  Pathologique  is  the  title  of 
vols.  II  to  X  inclusive. 

-"  Magendie  received  this  appointment  July  18,  1818. 

'*  To  this  list  were  added,  in  1824,  member  of  the  Royal  Medical  Society 
of  Edinburgh,  and  the  Reale  Accademia  dell'  Scienze  di  Torino,  and,  in 
1827,  Physician  to  the  Hospice  de  la  Salpetriere  and  Consulting  Physician 
to  the  Col.  royal  de  Henri  IV.  In  the  first  few  vols,  the  address  of  the 
editor  is  given,  "Rue  de  Seine,  No.  30." 


22  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANCOIS    MAGENDIE. 

turies  which  have  just  closed  have  seen  the  birth  and  growth  of 
the  physical  sciences.  The  task  of  the  early  discoverers  was  two- 
fold. In  the  first  place  they  had  to  make  the  actual  discoveries, 
and  in  the  second  they  had  to  overcome  the  prevailing  prejudices. 
Experimental  physiology  began  with  the  discovery  of  the  circu- 
lation of  the  blood  in  the  seventeenth  century,  but  it  has  not 
progressed  with  the  same  rapidity  as  astronomy,  physics  and 
chemistry,  perhaps  because  in  this  field  there  have  been  no 
geniuses  such  as  Galileo  or  Newton,  perhaps  because  popular 
prejudices  have  been  stronger  here  than  in  the  case  of  the  physical 
sciences. 

"What  subject  indeed  is  more  fertile  in  gross  errors  and 
absurd  beliefs  than  that  of  health  and  disease  ?  Consider  the  pain- 
ful disquietude  you  would  produce  in  the  minds  of  the  majority  of 
men  if  you  said  to  them :  'There  are  no  such  things  as  rheu- 
inatisiiial  humour,  gouty  humour,  scabby  virus,  venereal  virus, 
and  so  forth.  Those  things  which  are  so  designated  are  imaginary 
things,  which  the  human  mind  has  created  to  hide  from  itself  its 
own  ignorance.'  The  chances  are  that  you  would  be  taken  for  a 
lunatic  just  as  it  but  recently  befell  those  who  maintained  that 
the  sun  was  immovable  and  that  the  earth  turned. 

"Having  taught  this  science  [Physiology]  for  fifteen  years, 
cultivating  it  through  choice,  and  having  resolved  never  to  sepa- 
rate it  from  practical  medicine,  because  I  regard  it  as  the  best 
guide  to  follow  in  a  great  number  of  maladies,  I  believe  that  I 
would  be  doing  something  useful  in  publishing  a  periodic  work 
designed  to  contain  all  facts  which  tend  to  throw  light  upon 
the  history  of  man  in  health  and  in  disease.  I  shall  receive  there- 
fore with  acknowledgment  and  place  in  the  collection  which 
I  now  announce,  all  physiological  work,  all  medical  researches 
which,  based  on  precise  observations,  exact  experiments  and  con- 
trolled by  a  spirit  of  severe  impartiality  and  love  of  truth,  appear 
to  me  to  be  suitable  for  illuminating  the  phenomena  of  life. 

"One  advantage  which  distinguishes  the  majority  of  journals 
devoted  to  the  physical  sciences  is  that  they  are  edited  by  savants 
who  strengthen  such  publications  by  enriching  them  with  their 
own  discoveries,  and  who  are  therefore  at  the  same  time  more 
competent  to  judge  the  work  of  others.  The  works  which  I  have 
published  in  medicine  and  physiology  give  me,  perhaps,  some 
claim  to  the  confidence  of  the  public. 

"The  Journal  de  Physiologic  E.vperimentale  will  consist  of 
four  numbers  per  annum,  which  will  appear  regularly  every  three 
months.     Each  number  will  contain  six  sheets  in  octavo,  more 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  23 

if  the  material  be  abundant.  Plates  will  be  added  when  deemed 
desirable.     Subscription,  I2fr.  per  annum." 

By  way  of  "enriching"  the  journal  "with  his  own  discoveries," 
Magendie  contributed  thirteen  articles  to  the  first  volume.  Some 
of  these,  however,  were  only  reprints  of  his  former  pubhcations, 
added,  doubtless,  to  complete  the  "six  sheets  in  octavo."  Such 
padding  soon  became  unnecessary  and  the  editor's  articles  became 
fewer  and  fewer.  That  the  number  should  have  fallen  off  is  not 
surprising.  Indeed  it  seems  wonderful  that  he  could  have  found 
time  to  contribute  at  all,  since  he  systematically  verified  all 
results  of  experiments  sent  to  him  for  publication,  as  would 
appear  from  a  foot-note  in  one  of  the  early  numbers  of  the 
journal  in  which  he  asks  his  contributors  to  send  in  their 
articles  at  least  one  month  in  advance  that  he  might  have 
time  to  verify  the  principal  experiments  before  sending  their 
accounts  to  the  printer.^^  Moreover,  Magendie's  literary  activity 
was  not  confined  to  editing  his  journal.  He  re-edited  Bichat's 
"Researches  on  the  Phenomena  of  Life  and  Death,"  1822,  (36) 
and  his  "Treatise  on  the  Membranes,"  1827,  (60)  both  with 
commentaries.  He  also  re-edited,  with  considerable  additions, 
his  own  book  on  gravel  (1828).  In  1825  he  published  with 
Desmoulins  an  "Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  the  Nervous  Sys- 
tem" (52).  In  1823  and  1828  appeared  his  two  memoirs,  on 
the  Nervous  System,  and  on  the  Brain,  and  finally,  the  second 
edition  of  his  Text-Book  and  the  second  to  seventh  editions  of 
the  Formulary. 

Thus  founded,  the  Journal  de  Physiologie  Experimentale  led 
a  flourishing  existence  for  eleven  years.  Kergaradec's  celebrated 
memoir  on  the  auscultation  of  the  foetal  heart  appeared  in  the 
second  volume,  while  among  the  best  known  contributers  were 
Andral,  Breschet,  Velpeau,  Poiseuille,  Flourens  and  Bernard. 
Financially,  the  journal  met  with  "  a  success,"  wrote  Magendie,^- 
"which  I  had  hoped  for  only  with  time ;  I  had  even  deposited 
the  funds  necessary  for  supporting  it  for  several  years.  But 
this  precaution  was  needless ;  with  the  second  number  the 
expenses  were  covered.  I  am  doubtless  very  much  flattered  by 
this  result,  but  I  also  sincerely  congratulate  the  friends  of  sci- 
ence, especially  those  who  wish  to  see  medicine  depart  from  that 
state  of  imperfection  in  which  it  has  been  up  to  our  day,  and 
in  which  many  persons  through  prejudice  or  other  less  excusable 
motives  are  induced  to  maintain  it."     He  adds :  "I  have  never 

81 J :  I,  p.  loi. 

82  T 


24  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

intended  that  this  publication  should  be  of  the  nature  of  a  financial 
speculation ;    I  have  devoted  the  profits  to  perfecting  the  work." 

It  would  be  tedious  to  give  even  in  outline  the  contents  of 
Magendie's  numerous  contributions  to  the  Journal,  tedious  even 
to  give  in  full  their  titles,  for  there  were  twenty-six  of  them, 
not  counting  editorials  and  reports ;  but  for  the  purpose  of 
emphasizing  the  wide  range  of  his  investigations,  an  enumeration 
of  some  of  the  subjects  treated  will  not  be  unprofitable. 

There  were  five  articles^^  on  human  and  comparative  anat- 
omy, six^*  on  the  special  senses  and  peripheral  nerves,  eight^'' 
on  the  central  nervous  system,  six^"  on  the  physiology  and  sur- 
gery of  the  circulation,  six'"  on  clinical  medicine  and  therapeutics, 
two^^  on  hydrophobia  and,  finally,  a  description^"  of  two  new 
sorts  of  gravel.  There  is  also  one  series  of  articles  which  is 
worthy  of  especial  attention,  for  not  only  were  the  experiments 
therein  described  of  extraordinary  importance,  but  their  publica- 
tion gave  rise  to  a  well-known  and  rather  bitter  controversy. 
The  discussion  of  this  topic  will,  however,  be  reserved  for  a 
separate  sub-section. 

The  Bell'Magendic  Controversy,  1822  and  1847. 

In  the  third  number  of  Volume  II  of  his  Journal  occurs  one  of 
Magendie's  most  noteworthy  contributions  to  physiology,  namely, 
his  article  on  the  functions  of  the  spinal  nerve  roots  (40). 

"For  a  long  time,"  he  writes,  "I  had  wished  to  perform  the 
experiment  of  cutting  the  anterior  and  posterior  roots  of  the 
nerves  arising  from  the  spinal  cord  of  an  animal."  Having 
secured  a  litter  of  pups  Magendie  laid  bare  the  cord.  "I  had 
then  before  my  eyes  the  posterior  roots  of  the  lumbar  and  sacral 
pairs,  and,  raising  them  up  successively  on  the  blade  of  a  pair 
of  small  scissors,  I  cut  them  on  one  side.  ...  I  reunited  the 
wound  by  means  of  a  suture  through  the  skin  and  observed  the 
animal.  I  thought  at  first  that  the  member  corresponding  to  the 
cut  nerves  was  entirely  paralyzed.  It  was  insensitive  to  pricks 
and  to  the  strongest  compression ;  it  also  appeared  to  me  to  be 
immovable ;  but  soon,  to  my  great  surprise,  I  saw  it  move  per- 
ceptibly,   although    sensibility    was    always    entirely    absent.     A 

33  See  Appendix :   28,  29,  33.  34,  38. 
^*Ibid.:    40,  41,  49,  50,  54,  65. 
30  Ibid.:   25,  4S,  46,  47,  51,  S3,  61,  67. 
^<>Ibid.:    24,  26,  30,  31,  32,  63. 
"/MU;  35,37,  55,58,66,68. 
38/6«y..-   27,48. 
^^Ibid.:  59. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  2$ 

second  and  a  third  experiment  gave  me  exactly  the  same  result. 
I  began  to  regard  it  as  probable  that  the  posterior  roots  of  the 
spinal  nerves  might  have  different  functions  from  the  anterior 
roots,  and  that  they  were  particularly  designed  for  sensibility." 

Then,  with  considerable  difficulty,  Magendie  succeeded  in 
cutting  the  anterior  roots.  "As  in  the  preceding  experiments,  I 
made  the  section  on  only  one  side.  .  .  .  One  can  imagine 
with  what  curiosity  I  followed  the  effects  of  this  section.  The 
results  were  not  doubtful ;  the  member  was  completely  immov- 
able and  flaccid,  although  it  preserved  an  unequivocal  sensi- 
bility. Finally,  that  nothing  might  be  neglected,  I  cut  at  the 
same  time  the  anterior  and  posterior  roots ;  there  was  a  complete 
loss  of  sensation  and  motion.     .     .     ." 

"I  am  following  up  these  researches,  and  will  give  a  detailed 
account  of  them  in  the  next  number.  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to 
be  able  to  affirm  to-day  as  positive,  that  the  anterior  and  pos- 
terior roots  of  the  nerves  which  arise  from  the  cord  have  different 
functions ;  that  the  posterior  appear  to  be  more  particularly 
devoted  to  sensibility,  while  the  anterior  appear  more  especially 
associated  with  movement." 

As  promised  by  Magendie,  tlie  next  number  contains  a  second 
article  on  the  same  subject,  entitled,  "Experiments  on  the  function 
of  the  roots  of  the  nerves  which  arise  from  the  spinal  cord. "(41) 
In  this  conxmunication  the  author  states  that,  having  become 
curious  to  know  what  the  effect  of  cutting  the  dorsal  or  ventral 
roots  would  be  upon  the  convulsions  caused  by  strychnia,  he 
proceeded  to  decide  the  question  by  means  of  experiments.  These 
consisted  in  unilateral  section  of  one  or  both  sets  of  the  nerve  roots 
supplying  the  hind  leg.  As  might  have  been  expected,  in  the  leg 
of  which  the  dorsal  roots  had  been  cut,  the  tetany  was  just  as 
complete  and  intense  as  when  these  roots  were  left  intact;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  in  the  leg  of  which  the  ventral  roots  had  been 
cut,  the  muscles  remained  lax  and  motionless. 

The  publication  of  these  articles  at  once  gave  rise  to  what 
is  known  as  the  Bell-Magendie  controversy,  for  it  was  asserted 
that  Magendie  had  done  no  more  than  confirm  and  elaborate  the 
experiments  already  performed  in  England  by  Sir  Charles  Bell.*" 
The  basis  of  the  claim  made  for  Bell  was  a  pamphlet  printed  by 

■">  John  Shaw  stated  that  M.  Magendie  "corroborated  some  experiments 
which  had  been  previously  made  in  this  country;  but  of  the  performance 
of  which  M.  Magendie  does  not  appear  to  have  been  aware." — London 
Med.  and  Physical  Journal,  1822,  xlviii,  p.  343. 


26  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

him  in  1811  and  entitled,  "Idea  of  a  New  Anatomy  of  the  Brain, 
submitted  for  the  observations  of  his  friends."'"  This  work  was 
never  intended  for  general  distribution,  but  was  privately  cir- 
culated among-  Cell's  friends.  In  it  the  author  described  the 
following  experiment : 

"On  laying  bare  the  roots  of  the  spinal  nerves,  I  found  that 
I  could  cut  across  the  posterior  fasciculus  of  nerves,  which  took 
its  origin  from  the  posterior  portion  of  the  spinal  marrow,  with- 
out convulsing  the  muscles  of  the  back ;  but  that  on  touching 
the  anterior  fasciculus  with  the  point  of  the  knife,  the  muscles 
of  the  back  were  immediately  convulsed."*- 

From  this  experiment  Bell  concluded  that  the  dorsal  and 
ventral  roots  have  different  functions,  but  in  the  nature  of  these 
functions  he  was  mistaken,  for  he  supposed  that  upon  the  ventral 
roots  depended  not  only  motion  but  also  sensation,  while  to  the 
dorsal  roots  he  attributed  the  function  of  control  of  the  growth 
and  sympathies  of  the  parts. 

In  the  interval  between  his  first  and  second  communications, 
Magendie  had  been  made  aware  of  the  existence  of  this  pamphlet, 
and  consequently  he  was  able  to  add  to  his  second  article  the 
extract  from  Bell's  work  which  has  been  quoted,  and  concluded 
with  the  following  conunent  with  regard  to  it:  "M.  Bell,  led  by 
his  ingenious  ideas  regarding  the  nervous  system,  has  been  very 
near  discovering  the  functions  of  the  spinal  roots. "*^ 

The  dispute  never  took  on  an  international  character,  for 
although  the  claim  of  Bell  was  taken  up  in  England  with  con- 
siderable vim  and  venom  by  John  Shaw,  one  of  Bell's  pupils, 
several  English  authors  gave  unqualified  preference  to  the  claim 
of  Magendie.  Mayo,**  for  example,  wrote  in  his  text-book,  "Mr. 
Bell  was  carried  by  his  experiments  very  near  the  truth,  but  he 
failed  at  that  time  to  ascertain  it.  .  .  .  Before  Mr.  Bell  pub- 
lished any  other  account  of  the  function  of  these  nerves,  Ma- 
gendie had  given  to  the  world  the  true  theory  of  their  uses." 
Magendie  himself  appears  to  have  preserved  a  dignified  silence, 
a  silence  which  was,  however,  misinterpreted  even  by  some  of 
his  colleagues,  as  will  now  be  shown. 

On  February  22,  1847,  Flourens  read  before  the  Academy  a 
"Note  concerning  the  effects  of  the  inhalation  of  ether  upon  the 

"  Lond.,  [iSii].    36  pp.  8vo. 

*2  Loc.  cit,  p.  22. 

*'  J :    1822,  ii,  p.  371. 

**  Herbert  Mayo.  "Outlines  of  Human  Physiology.  3  Ed.  London, 
1833,  p.  255.  See  also;  Med.  Times  and  Gazette,  London,  July-Dec,  1855, 
N.  S.,  xi,  p.  558. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  TJ 

medulla  oblongata."*^  At  the  conclusion  of  the  paper  Magendie 
arose.  "Our  honorable  colleague,"'"'  said  he,  "attributes  to  Sir 
Charles  Bell  the  discovery  of  the  functions  of  the  spinal  nerve 
roots.  ...  It  is  not  without  great  surprise  that  I  hear  him 
express  himself  in  such  a  positive  manner.  ...  If  I  did  not 
know  of  his  good  will,  I  might  be  mistaken  with  regard  to  his 
intentions.  ...  I  beg  M.  Flourens  that  when  he  prints  his 
memoir  he  will  indicate  precisely  the  works  of  the  English 
physiologist  in  which  the  discovery  in  question  may  be  found 
described.  This  is  not,  I  think,  too  much  to  require  of  the 
im.partiality  of  our  colleague." 

"In  stating  that  the  discovery  belongs  to  Bell,"  replied 
Flourens,  "I  merely  followed  the  common  opinion.  .  .  .  No 
one  would  be  more  happy  than  I,  could  I  proclaim  that  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  discoveries  in  physiology  belongs  to  France." 
"I  know,"  returned  Magendie,  "that  several  works  on  physi- 
ology couple  the  name  of  Sir  Charles  Bell  with  mine  .  .  .  but 
M.  Flourens  goes  very  much  farther  in  denying  me  all  partici- 
pation in  the  discovery.  .  .  .  No  doubt  M.  Flourens  has  not 
spoken  without  having  proofs  before  him.  .  .  .  When  he  has 
made  these  known,  I  shall  discuss  them.  .  .  .  Until  that  time  I 
maintain  that  Sir  Charles  Bell  was  a  complete  stranger  to  the 
discovery;  I  declare  that  my  colleague  is  ill-informed,  and  his 
assertions  not  at  all  exact." 

Flourens  replied'*'  that  he  would  present  his  proofs  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Academy  and  added  that  Magendie  could 
without  doubt  refute  them  since  he,  Flourens,  had  based  his 
opinion  largely  on  the  attitude  of  Magendie  himself. 

Accordingly,  on  the  following  Monday,  March  i,  1847, 
Flourens  opened  the  discussion  with  these  words  :**  "I  beg  the 
Academy  to  note  carefully  that  I  do  not  seek  proofs  against  my 
honorable  colleague,  I  seek  only  to  justify  my  own  opinion.  .  .  . 
In  1833,  in  the  Journal  des  Savants,  I  expressed  myself  thus: 
'That  which  we  call  a  nerve  is  a  very  complex  structure ;  the 
simple  structure  is  the  nerve  fibre.  ...  It  is  only  in  these  fibres 
that  the  properties  are  shown  to  be  distinct  and  isolated. 

"  'It  is  this  which  is  really  the  great  conception  which  domi- 
nates all  the  work  of  M.  Bell ;    it  is  his  experimental  analysis, 

"  Note  touchant  les  effets  de  I'inhalation  de  I'ether  sur  la  moelle 
allongee;  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  Sc,  Paris,  1847,  xxiv,  p.  253. 

<"  Loc.  cit.,  p.  258. 

*'' Loc.  cit.,  p.  259. 

*8  Sur  la  decouverte  de  siege  distinct  de  la  sensibilite  et  la  motricite; 
xxiv,  316.    Loc.  cit.,  p.  316. 


28  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

which  was  not  confined  to  the  nerve,  but  reached  successively 
each  of  the  primitive  elements  of  the  nerve,  which  is  the  source 
of  all  those  results  .  .  .  with  which  he  has  enriched  physiology. 
.  .  .  But  on  the  one  hand  M.  Bell  relied  too  much  upon  con- 
jectures and  deductions  drawn  from  anatomical  facts  alone. 
.  .  .  On  the  other  hand  he  relied  too  little  upon  experiment; 
and  thus  it  is  through  lack  of  being  sufficiently  eager  to  resort 
to  experiment  that  he  has  allowed  a  French  physiologist,  M. 
Magendie,  to  share  with  him  the  glory  of  one  of  his  most  beauti- 
ful discoveries,  that  of  the  distinct  function  of  the  posterior  and 
anterior  roots.'  That  is  what  I  thought,  that  is  what  I  wrote  in 
1833.  But  in  1842  an  event  occurred  which  had  a  great  influence 
on  my  opinion. 

"In  1842  the  Academy  awarded  the  prize  in  experimental 
physiology  to  M.  Longet,  for  four  memoirs  .  .  .  one  of  which 
bore  the  title :  'Memoir  on  the  functions  sensory  and  motor 
of  the  columns  of  the  cord  and  of  the  roots  of  the  nerves  which 
arise  from  them.'  ■*"  In  this  memoir,  M.  Longet  .  .  .  attributed  .  .  . 
the  honor  of  the  idea  of  the  distinct  function  of  the  .  .  .  roots 
...  to  M.  Bell :  he  attributed  to  himself  .  .  .  the  merit  of 
the  first  .  .  .  decisive  experiments.  Why  did  not  M.  Magendie 
speak  P^"  ...  If  he  had  said  'Those  are  my  experiments,'  .  .  . 
the  committee  would  have  paused.  His  silence  was  the  first  cause 
of  my  error. 

"There  is  nothing  more  in  favor  of  M.  Bell  except  a  single 
fact  .  .  .  the  following  passage  in  a  memoir  .  .  .  published  in 
1811:    .    .    ."" 

Magendie  then  spoke^^ :  "The  .  .  .  facts  which  our  hon- 
orable colleague  has  just  cited  appear  to  me  to  be  exact,  only  he 
interprets  them  in  a  manner  which  I  cannot  allow.  If  .  .  .1 
have  kept  silence  during  the  aflfair  which  has  just  been  recalled 
by  my  colleague,  no  one  could  have  interpreted  it  as  a  sort  of 
abandoning  of  my  claim;  for  the  report  made  to  the  Academy 
.  .  .  ran  verbatim  'that  I  believed  that  I  ought  to  decline, 
as  I  could  not  be  judge  and  party  in  questions  in  which  I  myself 
was  much  concerned.'  I  pass  on  now  to  the  works  of  M. 
Bell.  .  .  . 

*^  Memoire  s.  1.  fonctions  sensoriales  e.  motrice  d.  cordons  d.  1.  moelle 
epiniere  e.  d.  racines  d.  nerfs  qui  en  emanent. 

^•^  The  members  of  this  commission  were  Magendie,  Dumeril,  Becquerel, 
Flourens  and  de  Blainville. 

'■1  This  was  the  passage  already  quoted.     Cf.  footnote  *^. 

^2  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  Sc,  Paris,  1847,  xxiv,  p.  319. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  29 

"It  was  I  who  first  made  them  known  in  France.  I  analyzed 
them  in  my  Journal  de  Physiologic.  I  have  set  forth  their 
originality.  .  .  .  Charles  Bell  had  before  me,  but  without  my 
knowledge,  the  idea  of  cutting  separately  the  spinal  roots ;  he 
had  likewise  the  merit  of  discovering  that  the  anterior  influences 
muscular  contraction  more  than  the  posterior.  .  .  .  With  regard 
to  the  establishment  of  the  fact  that  these  roots  have  .  .  .  distinct 
functions,  that  the  anterior  preside  over  the  movements  and  the 
posterior  over  sensation,  that  discovery  belongs  to  me  .  .  .  and 
ought  to  remain  as  one  of  the  columns  of  the  monument  which 
the  physiologists  of  France  have  raised  since  the  beginning  of 
the  century." 

THE  ACADEMY,   182I-1855. 

Already  in  1819  Magendie  had  been  elected  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Medicine  and  now  on  November  19,  1821,  he  was 
called,  largely,  it  is  said,  through  the  influence  of  Laplace,  to  fill 
the  chair  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences  left  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Corvisart.''^  Of  the  latter  body,  of  which  he  was  president  during 
1837,  Magendie  continued  to  be  an  active  member  for  the  next 
thirty-five  years. 

As  much  of  the  v/ork  of  the  Academy  was  performed  by  spe- 
cial committees  elected  from  among  its  members,  it  was  as  a  mem- 
ber of  such  committees  that  Magendie  played  a  prominent  role. 

Committees  for  Verification. 

The  various  activities  with  which  the  Academy  was  busied  at 
that  time  might  roughly  be  classified  under  four  heads.  In  the 
first  place  the  custom  prevailed  of  appointing  committees  to  in- 
quire into  the  truth  of  papers  presented  before  the  Academy. 
Thus  the  half-dozen  memoirs  which  Magendie  himself  had  read 
before  the  Academy  had  been  passed  upon  by  committees  made 
up  of  Cuvier,  Humboldt,  Pinel,  Percy,  Halle  and  Thenard ;  and 
now  that  Magendie  had  become  an  academician,  it  fell  to  his  lot 
to  examine  many  of  the  communications  made  by  others.  This 
often  entailed  a  great  deal  of  labor,  for  the  more  important  ex- 
periments described  by  the  authors  had  to  be  repeated  and  their 
truth  or  error  demonstrated.     But   Magendie  entered   into  this 

"  See  Adhemard  Lecler,  "Academie  des  Sciences,"  in  La  grande  ency- 
clopedie,  Paris  and  Leipzig,  Vol.  I,  p.  205.  Desmarets-Jean-Nicholas  Cor- 
visart  (1755-1821)  became,  in  1797,  Professor  of  Medicine  at  the  College 
de  France;  later,  physician  to  Napoleon,  and  in  181 1  a  member  of  the 
Academie  des  Sciences. 


30  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

work  with  such  unusual  zeal  that  he  was  often  carried  far  beyond 
the  limits  of  simple  verification,  and  his  reports  to  the  Academy 
often  bore  the  character  of  independent  researches. 

Committees  on  Frizes. 

A  second  branch  of  academic  committee  work  was  the  ex- 
amination of  the  claims  of  competitors  for  certain  prizes.  The 
latter  had  been  founded  by  various  philanthropic  persons  and  to 
the  Academy  had  been  given  the  privilege  of  awarding  them. 
This  it  did  upon  the  recommendation  of  special  committees  of 
academicians  elected  by  ballot.  Those  prizes  in  which  Magendie 
was  especially  concerned  were  the  following: 

1.  The  prize  in  experimental  physiology,  founded  by  Baron 
Montyon.  To  tliis  reference  has  already  been  made.  It  con- 
sisted of  a  sum  of  900  fr.  and  was  awarded  annually  "for  the  best 
contribution  to  the  progress  of  experimental  physiology,  printed  or 
written." 

2.  The  prize  in  medicine  and  surgery  ;°^  also  a  Montyon  foun- 
dation. This  prize — or  rather  these  prizes — aggregated  a  con- 
siderable sum,  amounting  sometimes  to  as  much  as  17,000  fr.  It 
was  distributed  annually  among  several  competitors  in  amounts 
proportionate  to  their  respective  merits. 

3.  The  great  prize  in  the  physical  sciences,  a  medal  and 
3,000  fr.,  awarded  by  the  Academy  at  intervals  of  several  years. 

Exactly  how  many  times  Magendie  served  on  these  com- 
mittees is  uncertain,  but  from  the  time  that  the  proceedings  of  the 
Academy  began  to  be  regularly  published  (1835),  Magendie's 
name  was  never  absent  from  any  of  them  until  his  death  in  1855. ^"^ 
He  served  twice,  moreover,  as  one  of  the  five  judges  of  the  Mon- 
tyon prize  "relating  to  the  means  of  rendering  an  art  or  trade  less 
unhealthy,"  and  twice  on  the  committee  for  awarding  the  Manni 
prize  for  the  best  contribution  to  the  subject  of  apparent  death, 
and  also  in  the  case  of  many  special  prizes  offered  but  once,  or 
perhaps  but  for  a  few  times  by  enthusiasts  who  desired  to  be  the 
means  of  contributing  something  to  human  knowledge  with 
respect  to  certain  subjects  of  special  interest  to  themselves. 

»*"For  the  authors  of  the  works  or  discoveries  most  useful  to  the  art 
of  healing," — Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  Sc. 

^^A  note  in  the  /.  d.  physiol.  expcr.  e.  path.  (1828,  vii,  p.  136)  states  that 
Magendie  was  one  of  the  committee  on  the  prize  in  medicine  and  surgery 
for  the  preceding  year. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  3I 

The  Gelatin,  Hippiatric  and  Other  Commissions. 

Thirdly,  the  Academy  frequently  elected  committees  for  the 
purpose  of  arbitration  or  research,  or  elected  representatives  upon 
the  commissions  which  were  from  time  to  time  formed  under  vari- 
ous departments  of  the  government. 

Magendie  was  frequently  called  upon  to  take  part  in  this  sort 
of  work  and  among  the  commissions  of  which  he  was  a  member 
may  be  mentioned  the  following:  The  commission  established 
by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  in  which  Magendie  was 
associated  with  MM.  de  Cardaillac,  Professor  of  Philosophy,  and 
Letronne,  Inspector-General  of  Studies,  which  had  for  its  object 
the  investigation  of  the  new  method  of  teaching  children  to  read 
proposed  by  M.  Laffore.^"  Later,  at  the  request  of  the  same  min- 
istry, he  took  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  committee  for  con- 
sidering the  advisability  of  sending  a  physician  to  Germany  to 
study  the  methods  of  treatment  employed  at  the  various  watering 
places  in  that  country."'  There  were  also  the  commissions  to 
note  the  effect  on  sheep  of  large  doses  of  arsenic,  to  report  upon 
an  artificial  arm  presented  to  the  Academy  by  the  Dutch  sculptor, 
Van  Petersen,"*  to  consider  the  proposed  suppression  of  the 
botanical  garden  in  Toulon,""  and  so  forth.*"  Two  of  the  com- 
missions of  which  Magendie  was  a  member  were  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  merit  especial  attention.  They  were  the  Hippiatric 
Commission  and  the  yet  more  famous  Gelatin  Commission. 

The  Hippiatric  Commission. 

In  September,  1836,  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction''  in- 
vited the  Academy  to  appoint  one  of  its  members  to  take  part  in  a 
commission  organized  in  accordance  with  a  decision  of  the  Min- 
ister of  War,  for  the  purpose  of  supervising  the  experiments  re- 
lating to  the  treatment  of  glanders  in  horses,  proposed  by  M. 
Galy.     Magendie  was  forthwith  elected. 

Four  years  later  the  new  Minister  of  War  appealed  directly  to 
the  Academy."-  He  stated  that,  since  the  loss  of  horses  from 
glanders  had  been  out  of  all  proportion  to  that  occurring  in  for- 
eign armies,  a  commission  of  army  officers  had  been  appointed 

"'"Rapport,  etc."    J :  1829,  ix,  p.  364. 

^'"Rapport,  etc."  (Com.  MM.  Pouillet  et  Magendie,  rap.).  C:  1850,  xxx, 
P-  471. 

S8C:   1845,  XX,  p.  428. 

^*  "Rapport,  etc."    C:  1849,  xxix,  p.  369. 

""See  Ibid.:   i8.^g,  ix,  p.  536;   and  1841,  xiii,  p.  940. 

"'C:  Sept.,  1836,  iii,  p.  372. 

^Ibid. :  Jan.,  1840,  x,  p.  y^. 


32  A   BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

by  his  predecessor  to  look  into  the  matter,  and  that  this  commis- 
sion had  now  stated  its  opinion  that  the  ravages  of  the  disease  were 
due  to  the  unhealthiness  of  the  stables  and  advised  certain  im- 
provements. On  the  matter  of  ventilation,  however,  the  minister 
wished  the  advice  of  the  Academy.  The  latter,  therefore,  ap- 
pointed a  commission  composed  of  Magendie,  Chevreul,  Poncelet, 
Breschet  and  Boussingault"''  to  attend  to  the  matter. 

The  work  of  Magendie  upon  these  commissions  doubtless  met 
with  the  approval  of  the  authorities,  for  when  in  1844  the  Hip- 
piatric  Commission  was  organized  under  the  War  Department, 
Magendie  was  appointed  president.  Beside  the  four  academi- 
cians, Magendie,  Rayer,  Payen  and  Boussingault,  the  commission 
comprised  M.  Cretu  (maitre  de  rcqucts),  the  director  of  the 
Alfort  veterinary  college,  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine, 
the  chief  veterinarian  of  the  municipal  guard,  four  veterinarians 
of  the  army  and  a  chemist. 

Within  the  next  fourteen  years  this  commission  published  four 
volumes  of  memoirs,  and  to  these  Magendie  and  Rayer  made  val- 
uable contributions  in  experimental  physiology.  One  of  these 
memoirs  (89)  was  read  by  Magendie  before  the  Academy  in 
1845.  It  was  a  comparative  study  of  the  parotid  and  mixed 
saliva  of  the  horse  with  relation  to  chemical  composition  and  ac- 
tion upon  food. 

The  Gelatin  Commission. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century"*  several  chemists, 
among  whom  was  d'Arcet,  Sr.,"°  were  busying  themselves  in  ex- 
periments which  had  for  their  object  the  extraction  of  the  organic 
material  from  bones.  At  that  time  it  was  believed  that  as  much 
bouillon  could  be  obtained  from  one  pound  of  bones  as  from  six 
pounds  of  meat,  and  hence  it  was  as  a  problem  in  institutional 
economics  that  the  work  of  these  investigators  was  viewed  with 
interest.  In  1817  d'Arcet,  Jr.,  devised  a  new  method  of  extract- 
ing the  bones,  a  device  which  soon  supplanted  the  older  methods 
in  which  the  use  of  papain  or  boiling  with  acids  had  been  resorted 
to.  The  statement  of  d'Arcet  that  he  was  now  able  to  make  five 
beeves  out  of  four,  coupled  with  the  approval  with  which  the 
College  de  France  looked  upon  his  results,  led  to  the  quite  general 
introduction  of  d'Arcet's  extract  of  bones  into  the  hospitals  and 

*^Ibidem,  p.  74. 

6*See  Bull.  Acad.  d.  Med.,  xv,  p.  324,  Jan.  8,  1850,  p.  367.  Jan.  22, 
1850. 

•"D'Arcet  (C:)  or  Darcet  {Bull.  Acad.  d.  Med.) 


THIRD  PERIOD,   1S2I-1855.  33 

almshouses  in  Paris,  where  6o  grams  of  this  gelatin  were  regarded 
as  equivalent  to  1,500  grams  of  meat. 

But  soon  criticisms  and  complaints  began  to  arise  in  various 
quarters.  On  June  30,  182 1,  M.  Donne  read  a  paper""  before  tlie 
Academy  of  Sciences.  He  had  experimented  on  himself,  he  said, 
and  had  promptly  lost  two  pounds  in  weight,  while  animals  which 
he  had  fed  with  gelatin  soon  showed  such  a  distaste  for  it  that 
they  preferred  to  die  of  starvation  rather  than  eat  it. 

Moreover,  on  November  8th  of  the  same  year  appeared  a  re- 
port"^ of  the  physicians  and  surgeons  of  the  Hotel-Dieu.  Their 
six  conclusions  may  be  summarized  by  saying  that  in  comparison 
with  the  bouillon  made  with  meat,  that  in  which  gelatin  was  em- 
ployed was  more  distasteful,  more  putrescible,  less  digestible,  less 
nutritious  and  that,  moreover,  it  often  brought  on  diarrhea.  This 
report  was  signed  by  Petit,  Recamier,  Caillard,  Baron  Dupuytren, 
Breschet,  Gueneau  de  Mussy,  Honore  Husson,  Sanson,  Magendie, 
Bally,  Henri  Duval  and  Gendrin,  secretary. 

The  Academy  of  Sciences  now  took  steps  in  the  matter  and 
appointed  a  committee  of  investigation  known  as  the  "Gelatin 
Commission." 

Two  years  later  (1833)  Edwards  and  Balzac"*  reported  be- 
fore the  Academy  a  series  of  experiments  on  dogs  in  which  they 
showed  that  although  gelatin  had  some  nutritive  value,  it  was  in- 
capable of  sustaining  life.  In  the  following  year  (1834)  Gran- 
nal,"°  after  performing  some  experiments  upon  his  own  family 
and  some  of  the  students  at  the  Val-de-Grace,  reported  to  the 
Academy  results  which  were  extremely  unfavorable  to  the  use  of 
gelatin. 

But  the  Gelatin  Commission  remained  silent,  and  as  years 
passed  various  individuals  began  to  show  signs  of  impatience. 
Seven  years  had  gone  by  when  M.  GrannaF"  asked  the  Academy 
to  urge  the  members  of  the  commission  to  bring  in  their  report. 
To  this  Magendie,  who  was  at  that  time  President  of  the  Academy, 
replied  that  the  experiments  of  the  commission  were  still  in 
progress  and  that  he  was  unable  to  say  when  they  would  be 
completed.     In  the  following  year  some  remarks  of  M.  Arago 

•'Meeting  of  the  Academy,  June  6,  1831 ;  also,  "Memoire  sur  I'emploi 
de  la  gelatine  comme  substance  alimentaire."   Paris,   1835.     8vo. 

"'C:  Aug.,  1841,  xiii,  p.  286. 

'^Arch.  gen.  de  rued.,  Paris,  1833,  2.  Ser.,  i,  p.  313. 

"'Meeting  of  the  Academy,  Sept.  i,  1834.  Gaz.  nicd.  d.  Paris,  1834,  2. 
Ser.,  V,  p.  578. 

■">C:  1837,  iv,  p.  183. 


34  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

hinting  at  the  slowness  of  the  commission  called  forth  a  formal 
protest  from  Dumas,  Thenard  and  Magendie,  and  Arago  apolo- 
gized.'^ 

At  last  the  report'-  was  ready  on  August  2,  1841.  Magendie 
presented  it  to  the  Academy  in  the  name  of  the  commissioners, 
Thenard,  president ;'"  d'Arcet,  Dumas,  Flourens,  Breschet,  Serres 
and  himself.  In  the  introduction  Magendie  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  M.  d'Arcet  had  tactfully  declined  taking  any  part 
in  the  experimental  work,  but  had  rendered  valuable  assistance  in 
collecting  documents  relating  to  the  gelatin  question.  He  then 
proceeded  to  say  that,  considering  the  problem  of  finding  the  nu- 
tritive value  of  certain  gelatin  soups  too  narrow,  the  question 
which  the  commission  proposed  to  itself  was  this:  "Can  one  by 
an  economical  procedure  extract  from  bones  a  food  which,  either 
when  eaten  alone  or  when  mixed  with  other  substances,  can  take 
the  place  of  meat?"  In  order  to  facilitate  this  inquiry  the  com- 
mission had  been  divided  into  two  sections ;  one  composed  of 
chemists,  while  to  the  other  was  allotted  the  physiological  experi- 
ments.    These  sections  now  presented  a  joint  report. 

The  scope  and  character  of  the  work  can  readily  be  seen  from 
the  titles  of  a  few  of  the  various  sections  into  which  the  report  was 
divided: 

History  of  the  extraction  of  gelatin  and  its  employment  as  a 
food. 

Experiments  on  gelatin,  pure,  flavored,  in  fasting,  in  associa- 
tion with  other  substances. 

Experiments  on  gelatin  and  meat  bouillon. 

Comparative  chemistry  of  various  bouillons. 

Experiments  on  the  parenchyma  of  bones,  on  tendons,  on  the 
nutritive  properties  of  albumen,  fibrin,  etc.,  mixed,  unmixed,  fla- 
vored or  unflavored. 

"We  are  very  conservative  in  our  conclusions,"  ran  the  report ; 
"but  we  can  state  the  following  positively: 

"i.  By  no  known  process  can  there  be  extracted  from  bones  a 
substance  which,  either  when  taken  alone  or  when  mixed  with 
other  substances,  can  replace  meat. 

"2.  Gelatin,  fibrin,  albumen,  taken  alone,  support  animals  for 
a  very  limited  time.     In  general  these  substances  soon  excite  an 

'i/6irf. :    1838,  vii,  p.  1 131. 

'^"Rapport   fait  a  I'Acad.   d.   Sc.  au   nom   d.   1.   Commission  dit   d.   1. 
gelatine."     Ibid. :    1841,  xiii,  pp.  237-283. 
's/fcjrf. :    1844,  xviii,  p.  986. 


,„/' 


lilt  '  "' 


m.i, 


§ 


k. 


FRANQOIS  MAGENDIE, 
Engraved  by  E.  Schladitz  after  the  Medallion  by  David  d' Angers. 


THIRD  PERIOD,  182I-18SS.  35 

intolerable  distaste  to  a  degree  which  renders  starvation  prefer- 
able. 

"3.  The  same  immediate  principles  artificially  united,  and 
rendered  of  an  agreeable  sapidity  by  seasoning,  are  accepted  with 
more  resignation  and  for  a  longer  time  than  when  they  are  iso- 
lated ;  but  finally  they  have  no  better  effect  upon  the  nutrition,  for 
animals  which  eat  them,  even  in  considerable  quantities,  die  with 
the  symptoms  of  complete  inanition. 

"4.  Meat  (muscle)  in  which  gelatin,  albumen  and  fibrin  are 
united  by  the  laws  of  organic  nature  and  are  associated  with 
other  materials  as  fats,  salts,  etc.,  suffice  even  in  very  small  quan- 
tities for  a  complete  and  prolonged  nutrition." 

The  remaining  five  conclusions,  though  interesting,  are  per- 
haps of  somewhat  less  importance  than  those  which  have  already 
been  quoted. 

The  work  of  the  Gelatin  Commission  was  not  completed  with 
this  report,  but  as  Magendie  seems  to  have  resigned'*  a  few  years 
later,  before  the  appearance  of  a  second  report,  the  doings  of  the 
commission  cease  to  have  any  bearing  on  this  biography. 

Memoirs,  the  "Comptes  Rendus." 
The  last  and  perhaps  the  most  important  phase  of  Academic 
activity  was  the  presentation,  at  the  meetings  of  that  body,  of 
memoirs  recording  the  results  of  original  investigations.  The 
papers  which  Magendie  read  before  the  Academy  were  numerous 
and  their  contents  varied.  At  first  they  were  published  either  in 
the  form  of  monographs  or  in  one  of  several  medical  and  scien- 
tific periodicals,  especially  in  the  medical  journal  of  Leroux  and 
the  Journal  dc  Physiologic  Expcrimentalc.  To  these  earlier  mem- 
oirs reference  has  already  been  made. 

In  1831  Magendie's  journal  came  to  an  end,  but  soon  (1835) 
another  and  still  more  famous  periodical  came  into  existence,  the 
Comptes  Rendus  Hebdomadaires  des  Seances  dc  I'Academie 
des  Sciences. 

Nothing  impresses  one  with  the  wonderful  intellectual  life  of 
Paris  at  that  time  more  than  simply  running  the  eye  down  the 
list  of  contributers  to  the  first  volume  of  the  Comptes: 
Agassiz,  Berthelot,  Gay-Lussac, 

Ampere,  Biot,  Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, 

Arago,  Cuvier,  Humboldt, 

Baudelocque,  Delacroix,  Laplace, 

Becquerel,  Flourens,  Magendie. 

'■•See  C:     1844,  xviii,  p.  564. 


36  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANQOIS    MAGENDIE. 

Of  all  Magendie's  contributions  to  the  Comptcs,  of  which  there 
were  about  a  dozen  in  the  next  twenty  years,  the  most  interest- 
ing was  his  series  of  articles  on  recurrent  sensibility.  In  the 
second  paper  on  the  function  of  the  spinal  nerve  roots,  which 
Magendie  published  in  his  Journal  in  1822,  he  described  not  only 
the  effect  of  section  of  the  roots  upon  the  convulsions  caused  by 
strychnia,  but  also  the  results  obtained  by  direct  stimulation  of  the 
roots.  These  results  were  surprising,  for  on  stimulation  of  the 
anterior  roots  Magendie  obtained  signs  of  pain,  while  stimula- 
tion of  the  posterior  roots  caused  muscular  movements.  To  the 
latter  phenomenon  he  does  not  again  refer,  so  that  one  is  left  in 
the  dark  as  to  whether  it  was  a  reflex  or  an  error  in  observation. 
The  fact,  however,  that  stimulation  of  the  anterior  roots  causes 
pain  seems  to  have  again  recurred  to  his  thoughts. 

On  May  20th,  1839,  Magendie  communicated  to  the  Academy 
the  results  of  some  experiments  on  the  nervous  system  (83).  The 
author's  summary  of  his  results  reads  as  follows :  "The  sensory  and 
motor  nerves  of  the  cord  are  both  sensitive  when  both  are  intact. 

"If  one  cuts  the  sensory  nerves,  the  motor  nerves  immediately 
lose  their  sensibility. 

"If  one  cuts  the  motor  nerves  in  the  middle,  the  end  which 
remains  attached  to  the  spinal  cord  is  quite  insensible;  the  op- 
posite end,  on  the  contrary,  retains  an  extreme  sensibility.  In 
this  case  the  sensibility  goes  from  the  periphery  to  the  centre. 

"If  one  cuts  the  sensory  nerves  in  the  middle,  the  end  which 
is  attached  to  the  cord  is  very  sensitive ;  the  end  which  is  ad- 
jacent to  the  ganglion  has,  on  the  contrary,  lost  all  its  sensibility." 

A  few  weeks  later  Magendie  presented  a  second  paper  (84)  be- 
fore the  Academy.  In  this  he  declared  that  having  been  impressed 
by  the  fact  that  the  sensibility  of  the  ventral  roots  depends  upon 
the  integrity  of  the  dorsal  roots,  he  was  minded  to  try  similar  ex- 
periments on  the  columns  of  the  cord.  He  therefore  stimulated 
the  ventral  columns  of  the  cord  and  found  that  they  showed  evi- 
dent sensibility,  although  they  were  not  so  exquisitely  sensitive  as 
the  dorsal  columns.  This  sensibility  of  the  ventral  columns  disap- 
peared in  great  part,  not  only  on  section  of  the  dorsal  roots,  but 
on  section  of  the  ventral  roots  also.  Why  this  round-about  path? 
Magendie  said  that  he  did  not  know,  and  that  more  experiments 
ought  to  be  made  for  investigating  this  subject. 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Academy  a  letter'^  from  M.  A. 

^^A.  Longet.  Fait  physiologique  relatif  aux  racine  d.  nerfs  rachidiens. 
C:  1839,  viii,  p.  881. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  37 

Longet  was  read  in  which  the  author  claimed  for  himself  the 
credit  of  the  discovery  of  recurrent  sensibility.  He  stated  that 
he  had  performed  the  essential  experiment  in  the  presence  of 
Magendie,  and  that  all  Magendie  had  done  was  to  confirm  and 
amplify  it  before  hurrying  off  to  the  Academy  to  report  the  dis- 
covery as  his  own.  Without  entering  into  the  details  of  the  Lon- 
get-Magendie  dispute,  which  was  soon  dropped,  it  may  be  said 
that  both  Bernard  and  Flourens  appear  to  have  disregarded 
entirely  Longet's  claim,  but  it  seems  probable  that  Magendie  did 
not  give  enough  credit  to  Longet  for  his  experiment,  and  that  con- 
sequently the  latter  was  led  to  claim  a  good  deal  more  than  was 
his  due. 

The  spinal  nerve  roots  seem  to  have  brought  more  trouble  in 
their  train  than  any  other  structure  investigated  by  Magendie. 
One  of  his  discoveries  was  claimed  for  Bell,  another  was  claimed 
by  Longet.  Nor  did  this  end  the  matter,  for  when  in  1847 
Magendie  again  reports  upon  the  subject  of  recurrent  sensibil- 
ity (91),  he  complains  sadly  that  the  Academy  had  not  treated  him 
fairly,  for  it  had  on  two  occasions  honored  memoirs  in  which  his 
results  in  regard  to  this  phenomenon  were  pronounced  erroneous. 
He  then  proceeds  to  repeat  all  his  previous  statements  concerning 
recurrent  sensibility,  and  next  to  describe  some  new  experiments 
which  amplify  and  confirm  the  results  already  obtained.  Finally 
he  reports  a  series  of  experiments  which  he  had  performed  in 
company  with  Claude  Bernard,  and  which  proved  that  the  sen- 
sor}' function  of  the  facial  nerve  depends  entirely  for  its  presence 
upon  the  integrity  of  the  trigeminal. 

Of  the  other  articles  published  in  the  Comptes  some  are  of  con- 
siderable interest.  With  Bernard  (93)  he  showed  that  stimulation 
of  the  dorsal  spinal  nerve  roots  causes  a  rise  in  the  blood  pressure, 
and  that  the  same  result  could  be  obtained  on  stimulation  of  a 
ventral  root,  but  only  v/hen  the  dorsal  root  was  intact  as  in  the 
case  of  recurrent  sensibility.  He  observed  also  that  this  change 
in  the  circulation  occurred  in  the  absence  of  all  signs  of  pain  on 
the  part  of  the  animal. 

In  another  paper  (90)  he  comments  on  the  interest  felt  by 
chemists  in  the  study  of  ferments  and  catalytic  action.  He  then 
describes  as  the  result  of  his  own  researches  the  discovery  of  a 
new  property  of  the  blood,  namely,  that  of  converting  starch  into 
glucose  and  dextrine.  Starch  injected  into  the  blood  disappeared 
and  in  its  place  dextrose  could  be  demonstrated. 

Besides  the  articles  already  referred  to  there  are  others  of 
somewhat  less  interest,   such  as   the   three  reports  on  nervous 


38  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

cases  treated  with  galvanism  (80,  81,  85),  a  note  on  the  com- 
position of  the  blood  in  various  diseases  (86),  an  article  on  the 
action  of  ammonium  nitrosulphate  on  animals  and  man  (78),  and 
another  on  the  cow-pox  (88). 

It  was  a  custom  for  each  academician  to  present  a  copy  of 
his  latest  book  at  one  of  the  sessions  of  the  Academy,  sometimes 
accompanying  it  with  a  short  summary  of  its  contents.  Conse- 
quently the  Comptes  rendns  contains  notices  and  abstracts  of 
many  of  Magendie's  larger  works. 

Personality  of  the  Academician,  Magendie. 

Although  an  able  academician,  whose  clear  sight  and  energy 
made  him  invaluable  as  a  worker,  the  asperity  of  his  character 
was  such  that  it  must  have  rendered  his  presence  at  times  a  source 
of  great  discomfort  to  his  colleagues.  "His  ineradicable  sarcasm 
spared  no  one.  His  abrupt  sallies  by  their  very  suddenness  dis- 
concerted all  prevision  and  set  at  naught  all  academic  tradition. 
He  never  insinuated  that  an  opinion  was  erroneous  or  a  fact  mis- 
stated, he  plainly  said  so." 

"Our  honorable  colleague,"  cried  Magendie,"  when  Breschet 
had  finished  reading  his  paper  on  glanders,'^  "our  honorable 
colleague  has  just  passed  judgment  in  a  manner  so  positive,  so 
absolute,  upon  certain  questions  of  the  greatest  importance,  that 
wishing  to  reply  and  believing  that  I  can  do  so  with  some  suc- 
cess, I  find  myself  with  no  other  resource  than  to  employ  phrases 
both  sharp  and  clear,  which  might  compare  without  disadvantage 
with  those  which  he  has  used. 

"I  say  to  my  honorable  colleague,  without  any  oratorical  pre- 
cautions: when  you  say  that  chronic  glanders  is  the  same  disease 
as  acute  glanders  you  are  wrong!  When  you  say  that  chronic 
glanders  is  contagious  you  are  wrong  again !  When  you  say  that 
chronic  glanders  is  transmitted  to  man  by  way  of  contagion  you 
are  expressing  an  opinion  which  nothing  proves  and  which,  if 
it  were  spread  about  on  the  authority  of  your  words,  might  have 
the  most  disastrous  consequences. 

"I  could  easily  multiply  the  number  of  these  denials,  but  I 
will  confine  myself  for  the  moment  to  the  three  principal  points 
discussed  in  your  memoir.     .     .     ." 

The  incident  above  quoted  is  by  no  means  unique,  for  Magen- 

'«C :  Feb.   10,  1840,  x,  p.  223. 

"Breschet  and  Rayer :  De  1.  Morve  cliez  I'homme,  chez  1.  solipedes  e. 
quelques  autres  mammiferes.    C :  Feb.  10,  1840,  x,  p.  200. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  39 

die  never  left  any  room  for  doubt  witli  regard  to  his  meaning.''' 
Flourens  moreover  intimates  that  Magendie  claimed  for  himself 
the  whole  field  of  physiology,  and  that  no  experiments  could  be 
done  nor  discoveries  made  without  arousing  his  jealousy.  But 
^  Bernard  leads  us  to  believe  that  it  was  really  a  matter  of  principle 
which  led  him  to  seek  so  diligently  for  the  flaws  in  the  work  of 
others,  that  he  might  by  so  doing  the  more  readily  arrive  at  the 
truth.  It  is  probable  that  an  impartial  critic  to-day,  one  who  had 
not  himself  been  roughly  handled,  as  Flourens  had  been,  by  this 
perhaps  over-strenuous  skeptic,  would  agree  with  Bernard  and 
would  see  in  Magendie  a  rough  but  honest  champion  who 
hacked  and  hewed  his  way  toward  the  truth  utterly  regard- 
less of  the  more  sensitive  feelings  of  others  and  utterly  contempt- 
uous of  the  shallow  euphemisms  which  society  at  all  times  fosters. 
Magendie's  method  was,  however,  so  unusual  that  another  in- 
stance should  be  cited  to  emphasize  and  illustrate  this  important 
trait  in  his  character.  One  of  the  best  instances  of  his  violent  and 
unexpected  attacks  is  found  in  the  records  of  the  ether  controversy 
which  took  place  in  1847.  On  February  ist  of  that  year  Velpeau 
read  before  the  Academy  a  note  "On  the  Effects  of  Ether."  '"  He 
recorded  the  results  of  numerous  operations  with  this  anesthetic. 
For  the  relaxing  of  muscles  in  the  setting  of  fractures  and  the 
reduction  of  dislocations,  he  had  also  found  it  most  useful.  He 
dwelt  upon  the  wonderful  result  of  ether  anesthesia  and  his  dis- 
course glowed  with  enthusiasm. 

Velpeau's  remarks,  however,  called  forth  a  perfect  tirade  on 
the  part  of  Magendie,*"  who  in  a  long  harangue  soundly  rated 
the  surgeons  in  general  and  Velpeau  in  particular.  "The  sur- 
geons," said  he  in  substance,  though  these  were  not  his  exact 
words,  "are  catering  to  the  public  demand  for  the  miraculous  and 
sensational.  They  perform  experiments  on  human  beings  which 
cannot  be  justified.  Our  knowledge  of  this  drug  is  too  scanty 
to  warrant  this  wholesale  use  of  it.  Unconsciousness  may  be 
produced  by  other  drugs,  such  as  alcohol,  but  they  are  not  used  in 
operations  for  very  obvious  reasons,  yet  the  surgeons  hasten  to  em- 
ploy ether,  a  drug  with  which  we  are  so  little  acquainted.  Might 
not  the  use  of  ether  initiate  in  patients  a  craving  for  it?  Who, 
indeed,  would  commit  himself  while  in  a  state  of  complete  uncon- 
sciousness into  the  hands  of  a  surgeon  when  bungling  and  mal- 

"See  C:  1839,  ix,  p.  776;  1845,  xxi,  p.  51 ;  and  1849,  xxix,  p.  417. 
'°Sur.  1.  effets  d.  I'ether.    C :  Feb.  I,  1847,  xxiv,  p.  129.    Feb.  i,  1847. 
^"Ibid.:   p.  134. 


40  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

practice  might  go  on  unknown  to  him?  Would  one  not  rather 
endure  the  pain?  Of  what  use  is  an  anesthetic  which  still  permits 
the  patients  to  shout  and  struggle  as  though  tormented  with 
horrible  dreams?  Finally,  may  not  the  knowledge  of  the  ease 
with  which  it  can  be  employed  lead  to  its  use  for  criminal 
purposes  ?" 

In  replying,'^  Velpeau  expressed  his  great  astonishment  at 
Magendie's  attack.  He  resented  the  implication  that  he  was  a 
rash  experimenter.  Who  mdeed  in  all  Europe  was  more  free  in 
resorting  to  experiments  both  on  man  and  animals  than  he  who 
had  just  attacked  the  surgeons?  Ether  had  been  abundantly 
tested  by  the  most  accomplished  persons  both  in  America  and  in 
England.  Velpeau  then  at  some  length  explained  to  the  Academy 
that  the  facts  advanced  by  Magendie  were  exceptional  and  that 
his  fears  were  groundless.  But  Magendie  was  not  silenced.  "He 
would  not  reply,"  he  said,  "to  M.  Velpeau,  who  had  contested 
none  of  his  assertions.  He  would,  however,  show  the  disadvan- 
tages of  ether  anesthesia.  In  long  operations  one  dares  not  use 
it,  for  our  knowledge  of  the  after-effects  of  the  drug  is  too  scanty ; 
it  is  contraindicated  in  operations  near  nerves  which  might  be  cut 
or  tied  but  for  the  warning  given  by  the  conscious  patient ;  in 
parturition  it  is  worse  than  useless  since  it  interferes  with  the 
normal  pains ;  in  mouth  and  face  operations  it  should  not  be  used 
lest  the  blood  should  fill  up  the  lungs  of  the  helpless  patient. 
Such  examples  might  be  multiplied  indeiinitely." 

The  next  meeting  of  the  Academy  was  opened  by  a  paper  by 
Roux  on  "The  Effects  of  Ether."*-  This  again  aroused  Magendie, 
who  at  once  began  a  long  and  vehement  discourse*'  which  may  be 
paraphrased  and  abridged  as  follows :  "If,  at  the  last  meeting  of 
the  Academy,  my  words  seemed  to  be  marked  by  a  certain  degree 
of  animation,  I  beg  you  to  note  that  they  were  directed  less 
against  a  new  therapeutic  agent  than  against  the  extreme  eager- 
ness with  which  patients  have  everywhere  been  experimented 
upon. 

"During  the  past  week  the  subject  of  ether  narcosis  has  been 
engrossing  all  minds.  Among  the  many  cases  operated  upon, 
we  hear  of  those  in  which  the  giving  of  ether  was  accompanied 
by  cries,  lamentations  and  signs  of  suffering.  Three  cases  have 
been  reported  by  Vidal,  in  which  there  was  sensory  exaltation 

s'C:  Feb.  i,  1847,  xxiv,  p.  138. 

82Sur.  1.  cffets  d.  I'ether.     C :  Feb.  8,  1847,  xxiv,  p.  168. 

o^Ibid. :  p.  170. 


THIRD  PERIOD,  182I-185S.  4I 

SO  tliat  the  pain  of  the  operation  was  increased.  In  three  women 
who  had  come  to  the  Versailles  hospital,  for  the  extraction  of 
some  teeth,  tlie  administration  of  ether  was  followed  by  convul- 
sions, recurring  for  several  days.  In  some  there  have  been  dreams, 
the  most  unpleasant  and  the  most  violent  and  sometimes  even 
a  condition  resembling  delirium  tremens.  The  dreams  are  some- 
times extraordinarily  erotic  in  character.  Women  thus  intox- 
cated  have  been  seen  to  rush  upon  the  surgeon-operator  with 
such  evident  intention  that  in  tliis  singular  and  novel  situation 
the  danger  is  no  longer  to  the  patient,  but  to  the  surgeon." 
[Laughter.] 

"I  should  hope,"  he  continued,  "that  no  one  supposes  tliat  I 
had  the  intention  of  provoking  hilarity.  On  the  contrary,  I  re- 
gard the  consequences  of  ether  intoxication  as  extremely  serious. 
I  should  be  very  unhappy  if  my  wife  or  my  daughter  had  been  the 
subject  of  scenes  similar  to  those  of  which  I  have  been  a  wit- 
ness, in  which  chaste  and  modest  girls  have  been  transformed  in 
a  few  minutes  into  bacchanals.  Might  not  the  taking  of  ether 
lead  to  results  similar  to  those  produced  by  the  hashish  and 
opiimi  of  the  Orient?" 

Magendie  then  proceeded  to  describe  in  detail  the  distressing 
results  of  the  administration  of  ether  in  a  case  of  excision  of  the 
tonsils.  The  facts,  he  said,  had  been  obtained  from  a  physician 
who  had  been  present  at  the  operation  which  took  place  at  tlie 
Charite.  In  conclusion,  he  expressed  his  belief  that  the  zeal  and 
activity  which  had  characterized  surgeons  during  the  last  few 
days  might  contribute  greatly  to  our  knowledge  of  the  effects  of 
ether  anesthesia. 

Roux,**  whose  paper  had  been  the  cause  of  this  second  at- 
tack upon  anesthesia,  replied  much  as  Velpeau  had  done  at  the 
preceding  meeting.  Magendie's  objections  were  not  serious,  for 
such  cases  as  those  reported  were  quite  exceptional.  Then  Vel- 
peau, the  surgeon  of  the  Charite,  began  to  defend  himself;  Ma- 
gendie had  not  told  all  that  there  was  to  tell  with  regard  to  the 
tonsilar  excision.  The  young  man  on  whom  the  operation  had 
been  performed,  a  very  neurotic  individual,  had  insisted  on  being 
etherized.  He  had  never  been  completely  under  the  influence 
of  the  anesthetic  and  his  subsequent  symptoms  were  due  to 
hysteria.  He  added  that  he  had  never  stated  that  ether  was  of 
value  in  all  cases.     He  knew  that  in  operations  in  the  mouth  it 

s^C:  Feb.  8,  1847,  xxiv,  p.   175. 


42  A   BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

was  of  little  value  and  he  knew  of  many  other  cases  in  which 
the  usefulness  of  ether  was  more  than  questionable. 

This,  however,  did  not  close  the  incident,  for  a  week  later 
Magendie  laid  before  the  Academy  a  letter  from  M.  Constantin 
James, *^  confirming  the  statements  made  by  Magendie  with  re- 
gard to  the  patient  at  the  Charite.  Velpeau  was,  however,  pre- 
pared for  this  and  forthwith  produced  a  letter  signed  by  his  three 
internes,  who  denied  some  of  the  assertions  made  by  Magendie. 
He  then  proceeded  to  discuss  at  length  the  advantages  and  limita- 
tions of  ether  anesthesia,  concluding  with  the  words :  "Finally, 
there  is  one  remark  which  I  shall  permit  myself  to  make  to  the 
public  and  the  laity;  it  is  that  ether  in  doing  away  with  pain 
does  not  remove  the  danger  of  the  operation,  and  that  the  pos- 
sibility of  operating  without  suffering  is  not  a  reason  for  opera- 
ting without  necessity." 

Then  Magendie  again  spoke:*"  "Since  my  colleagues  have 
come  to  acknowledge  the  dangers  of  the  administration  of  ether 
and  the  precaution  required  in  using  it,  I  regard  the  discussion 
as  terminated,  the  more  so  if  they  put  into  practice  the  opinions 
which  they  profess. 

"I  do  not  regard  the  testimony  of  three  of  M.  Velpeau's 
pupils  as  of  equal  value  to  that  of  a  physician  and  former  interne 
at  the  hospital  in  question,  but  this  discussion  is  becoming  per- 
sonal and  ought  not  to  be  continued  before  the  Academy." 

Magendie  then  concluded  with  the  following  words :  "Gen- 
tlemen, in  throwing  myself  against  the  general  infatuation,  in 
protesting  against  experiments  made  upon  men  with  a  substance 
of  whose  properties  we  have  not  a  complete  knowledge  even  to- 
day, I  knew  very  well  that  I  would  raise  up  formidable  opposition. 
But  I  declare  that  after  having  devoted  so  many  years  to  labors 
which,  unless  I  deceive  myself,  have  not  been  sterile  for  the  wel- 
fare of  humanity,  I  had  not  expected  to  be  represented  as  the 
apostle  of  pain,  and,  shall  I  say  it  ?  as  opposing  a  useful  discovery 
for  the  sole  reason  that  it  did  not  emanate  from  myself !  But  what 
does  it  matter !  I  have  the  consciousness  of  having  performed  a 
duty  in  putting  my  colleagues  and  the  Academy  itself  on  guard 
against  an  innovation  which,  though  it  may  have  some  day  a  real 
utility,  has  already  resulted  in  sad  consequences  and  can  be  the 
occasion  of  deplorable  abuses." 

As  has  already  been  stated,  this  is  by  no  means  the  only  in- 

*^C:  Feb.  15,  1847,  xxiv,  p.  230. 
^^Ibid.:   p.  238. 


THIRD  PERIOD,  182I-1855.  43 

stance"  of  Magendie's  belligerent  nature.  Sometimes,  as  in  his 
dispute  with  M.  Payen,  he  was  shown  to  be  clearly  in  the  wrong, 
having  been  guilty  of  unintentional  misstatement.  In  this  case 
Magendie  frankly  and  publicly  acknowledged**  his  error  when  it 
was  shown  to  him. 

MEDICAL  PRACTICE. 

"The  Great  Idol  of  Human  Credulity." 

\y  We  have  seen  that  as  a  man  of  science  the  two  most  character- 
istic traits  of  Magendie  were  his  skepticism  and  his  devotion  to 
the  experimental  method.  These  characteristics  also  found  ex- 
pression in  his  practice  of  the  profession  of  medicine.  "To  the 
young  practitioners  vaunting  the  success  of  their  prescriptions, 
he  would  reply  with  good-natured  sarcasm :  'It  is  evident  that 
you  have  never  tried  the  plan  of  doing  nothing.'  If  the  extreme 
simplicity  of  this  kind  of  treatment  called  forth  not  unreasonable 
objections,  'Be  assured,'  he  would  add,  'that  for  the  most  part 
when  disturbance  manifests  itself,  we  cannot  discover  the  causes; 
we  can  at  most  only  perceive  the  effects.  Our  only  usefulness  in 
the  presence  of  nature,  which  in  general  tends  to  the  normal  con- 
dition, consists  in  not  interrupting  her ;  it  is  only  now  and  then 
that  we  can  aspire  to  be  sufficiently  skilful  to  aid  her.'  "  *' 

"This  disease,"  said  he,  in  one  of  his  lectures  at  the  college, 
"is  rather  an  indisposition  than  a  true  malady,""  at  least  when  not 
aggravated  by  treatment.  For  if  the  physician  appears  to  give  it 
importance,  if  he  makes  frequent  visits  to  his  patient,  if  he 
questions  him  gravely,  advises  bleeding  and  other  energetic 
measures,  it  is  possible  that  a  simple  indisposition  may  become 
a  serious  or  even  fatal  illness:  one  has  only  too  many  examples 
of  this.  But  if  you  content  yourself  with  that  which  simple 
preservation  indicates,  if  the  patient  being  a  little  cold  is  warmed, 
if  you  have  him  drink  some  aromatic  infusion,  it  is  certain  that  the 
disease  will  then  be  a  slight  affection  which  will  never  entail  a 
serious  mishap."  His  bluntness  and  skepticism  seem  never  to 
have  interfered  with  his  success  in  practice,  for  his  reputation 
was  such  that  many  in  their  confidence  in  his  integrity  and  skill 

*'See  also  the  discussion  following  the  report  of  Reg^nault.  C :  1841, 
p.  1076. 

**C :  March  6,  1843,  xvi,  p.  554 ;  and  March  20,  1843,  xvi. 

«»F:  p.  39. 

^''Legon  sur  le  cholera-morbus,  pp.  5-6.  Magendie  is  here  speaking  of 
"cholerine." 


44  A    BIOGRAPHY    OF    FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

were  more  than  ready  to  overlook  his  eccentricities,  one  of  which 
was,  as  has  already  been  stated,  his  refusal  to  "bow  before  the 
great  idol  of  human  credulity."  In  this  connection  Flourens  tells 
the  following  amusing  anecdote."'  "On  a  certain  occasion,  on 
leaving  a  little  boy  whose  condition  presented  alarming  symp- 
toms, he  said:  'Let  him  do  just  what  he  pleases;  that  is  all  I 
prescribe.'  Usually  sparing  of  his  time  and  visits,  he  lavishes 
both  in  behalf  of  this  child,  but  adds  nothing  to  his  medication. 
On  the  evening  of  the  third  day,  all  at  once  his  brow  clears,  and 
taking  the  invalid  by  the  ear,  he  exclaims:  'Little  rogue,  you 
have  not  allowed  me  a  moment's  rest' ;  and  giving  him  a  little 
slap,  'Get  up  now  and  run  about.'  The  delighted  father  asks, 
'What  then  was  the  matter  with  the  child'?  'What  was  the 
matter?  Ma  foi,  I  don't  know;  neither  \,  nor  the  whole  faculty, 
if  they  could  be  honest  with  you.  But  what  is  certain  is  that 
everything  has  returned  to  its  normal  state,'  and  with  this  he 
disappeared." 

Naturally,  the  lovers  of  medical  miracles  were  rudely  shaken 
when  he  told  them  that  their  only  malady  was  a  craving  for 
being  gulled,  and  it  is  probable  that  no  would-be  invalid  ever 
came  twice  to  him  to  be  consoled  for  imaginary  ailments. 

But  Magendie  always  preferred  hospital  to  private  practice. 
There  he  seems  to  have  been  beloved,  for  the  poor  patients  of 
the  Salpetriere"-  presented  him  with  a  memorial  when,  in  1830, 
he  quitted  that  hospital  for  the  Hotel-Dieu. 

Now  it  ought  never  to  be  supposed  that  Magendie's  skepti- 
cism paralyzed  all  his  therapeutic  efiforts.  Magendie  was,  above 
everything  else,  an  experimenter,  and  if  he  did  not  accept  tradi- 
tional methods  of  treatment,  he  followed  the  suggestions  of  the 
experiments  which  he  had  himself  performed  on  animals.  Of  the 
many  instances  of  the  way  in  which  Magendie  turned  his  labora- 
tory experience  to  practical  use  the  following  may  be  cited;  not, 
however,  because  the  results  in  these  cases  were  most  satisfactory, 
but  because  the  account  is  perhaps  the  most  dramatic. 

In  the  article  entitled  "Experiments  on  Hydrophobia"  (27), 
Magendie  comments  on  the  impotence  of  all  known  drugs  in 

81 F:  pp.  39-40. 

s-Magendie  received  the  appointment  of  Medecin  Suppleant  to  the 
Salpetriere,  July  12,  1826  (Dubois,  p.  180).  La  Salpetriere  has  now  the 
oldest  hospital  buildings  in  Paris.  It  is  remarkable  for  the  extent  of  its 
grounds  and  buildings,  which  cover  some  seventy-four  acres.  It  was 
founded  by  Louis  XIV.  as  a  refuge  for  old  women,  and  received  its  name 
from  some  saltpetre  mines  which  had  occupied  the  same  site. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  45 

combating  this  terrible  disease.  He  then  vividly  describes  his 
method  of  dealing  with  a  mad  dog  which  he  had  been  hastily 
summoned  to  see.  It  appears  that  Magendie  had  noticed  that 
a  depression,  especially  of  the  nervous  system,  always  occurred 
in  animals  when  water  had  been  injected  into  the  circulation.  He 
therefore  called  to  his  aid  several  students  on  whose  courage, 
address  and  coolness  he  could  rely,  seized  the  frenzied  animal 
and  injected  sixty  ounces  of  water  at  40°  C.  into  the  jugular 
vein,  from  the  peripheral  end  of  which  ten  to  twelve  ounces  of 
blood  were  simultaneously  withdrawn.  The  animal  at  once 
became  quiet  and  soon  went  to  sleep.  At  the  end  of  five  hours, 
the  dog  showed  some  difficulty  in  respiration  and  in  this  state 
died,  but,  adds  Magendie,  doubtless  with  a  feeling  of  satisfaction, 
"there  was  never  any  return  of  the  rabies." 

Not  long  afterwards  Magendie  was  sent  for  by  M.  Caillard, 
resident  physician  at  the  Hotel-Dieu,  to  come  to  a  case  of  hydro- 
phobia in  its  last  stages  (48).  Magendie  found  the  patient 
strait-jacketed  and  in  a  desperate  plight.  Seeing  that  death 
was  imminent,  he  felt  justified  in  resorting  to  heroic  measures. 
He  therefore  had  the  man  held  firmly  while  he  injected  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  water  into  a  vein  of  the  forearm.  The 
injection  required  one  hour  and  forty  minutes,  the  pulse  fell 
from  one  hundred  and  eighty  to  eighty,  the  patient  became  calm 
and  drank  water,  the  strait-jacket  was  removed.  The  man 
now  appeared  quite  normal  and  was  without  fever.  On  the 
eighth  day  the  patient  died,  not  of  rabies,  however,  but  of  pyaemia. 
This  case  also  was  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  Magendie,  for  he  had 
cured  the  man  of  hydrophobia.  As  for  the  pyxmia,  he  was  at  a 
loss  to  account  for  its  origin,  which  is  not  much  to  be  wondered 
at,  seeing  that  the  nature  of  septic  infections  was  at  that  time 
(1823)  quite  unknown. 

Such  was  the  physician  who,  in  1828,  was  proposed  by  his 
friends  as  a  candidate  for  the  vacant  chair  of  medicine  at  the 
College  de  France.  But  his  coldness  and  reserve  antagonized 
the  Minister,  so  that  Recamier"^  received  the  appointment  instead. 

*2Josep'i-Claude-Anthelme  Recamier  (1774-1852),  in  1801,  was  appointed 
physician  to  the  Hotel-Dieu,  and  succeeded  Laennec  as  professor  of  medi- 
cine, in  1826.  In  1831,  after  his  resigrnation,  he  retired  for  a  time  to  Switz- 
erland. Returning  to  Paris,  he  became  a  practitioner  of  great  reputation. 
He  was  an  ardent  vitalist. — A.  Boullee.  Article :  "Recamier."  In :  Biog- 
raphic Universelle  (Michaud)  Ancienne  et  Moderne.  Paris.  Vol.  25, 
p.  292. 


46  A   BIOGRAPHY  OF  FRANCOIS   MAGENDIE. 

THE    COLLEGE  DE   FRANCE. 

Nomination,  i8jo. 

In  1830,  Recamier,  who  at  that  time  was  Professor  of 
Medicine  at  the  College  de  France,  refused  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  newly  proclaimed"''  King,  Louis-Philippe,  and 
his  Chair  at  the  College  consequently  became  vacant.  "This 
Chair,"  said  Claude  Bernard,""  referring  to  this  period,  though 
the  words  were  spoken  twenty-five  years  later,  "cannot  be  com- 
pared with  any  other.  It  is  not  such  a  Chair  as  that  in  the 
Faculty  of  Medicine,  for  example,  which  remains  limited  to  the 
same  special  branch  of  pathology  in  fixed  relation  to  the  other 
Chairs,  which  taken  all  together  represent  to  the  student  the  sum 
of  our  knowledge  of  the  medical  sciences.  In  the  College  de 
France  it  is  abstract  science  only  which  should  be  kept  in  view 
and  this  Chair  should  comprise  the  sum  of  scientific  medicine  in 
its  greatest  universality  and  in  the  highest  expression  of  its 
progress.  But  this  collection  which  we  call  medicine  is  com- 
posed of  a  host  of  special  sciences — anatomy,  physiology,  path- 
ology, and  so  forth.  All  these  sciences,  which  constitute  medi- 
cine, have  not  been  developed  simultaneously,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  successively  and  incompletely.  Now  since  it  is 
impossible  to  embrace  this  whole  collection  at  once,  the  Chair  of 
the  College  de  France  has  always  represented  progress,  in  medi- 
cal science,  in  whatever  branch  it  was  most  conspicuous  at  any 
time.  As  a  result,  the  character  of  the  course  should  vary  in 
the  different  periods  of  the  science,  according  as  scientific  prog- 
ress is  present  in  one  branch  of  medicine  rather  than  in  another. 
This  is  what  I  wish  to  prove  by  casting  a  glance  back  over  the 
list  of  professors  who  have  succeeded  each  other  in  the  Chair 
since  its  foundation  in  1542.  I  shall  take  from  it  certain  names 
at  random:  Vidus  Vidius  (1542)  ;  Sylvius,  or  Du  Bois*«  (1550) ; 
Riolan  (1604);  Guy-Patin  (1654);  Tournifort  (1703);  Astruc 
(1732);  Ferrein  (1742);  Corvisart  (1794);  Laennec  (1831) 
*  *  *  I  ask  you  what  tradition  or  relation  could  be  estab- 
lished between  such  different  men  as  those  whom  I  have  just 
enumerated?  Their  names  alone  show  the  successive  modifica- 
tions of  the  Chair  in  relation  to  the  needs  of  the  day  and  the 
progress  of  the  science."     "And  now,"  asked  Bernard,  "which 

•*Louis-Philippe  accepted  the  title  of  king  August  9,  1830. 

•"B :  p.  22. 

"Jacobus  Sylvius,  or  Jacques  Du  Bois. 


THIRD  PERIOD,  182I-1855.  47 

of  the  medical  sciences  is  to-day  the  most  active  and  shows  the 
most  rapid  progress?     It  is  obviously  experimental  physiology." 

The  opinion  which  Bernard  expressed  in  1855,  seems  to  have 
been  held  bj'  many  in  1830.  Unquestionably  Magendie,  as  the 
representative  of  the  rising  science  of  experimental  physiology — a 
science  which  dominated  the  chair  of  medicine  at  the  College  for 
the  next  fifty  years — was  the  proper  successor  of  Recamier. 

Already,  in  June  and  September,  1830,  there  had  appeared 
in  the  Gazette  Medicalc  de  Paris^''  an  article  which  doubtless 
expressed  the  opinion  of  some  of  those  best  competent  to  judge. 
After  a  severe  but  impartial  criticism  of  Magendie's  work  and 
views,  this  article  ends  with  a  still  sharper  criticism  of  the  Faculty 
of  the  College  and  with  an  expression  of  the  hope  that  Magendie 
might  succeed  in  obtaining  the  nomination.  The  concluding 
paragraph  reads  as  follows :  "The  choice  of  men  in  the  reorgani- 
zation which  is  being  prepared  will  be  significant.  *  *  *  The 
Faculty  is  careless,  the  instruction  is  lacking  in  breadth.  It  is 
necessary  to  remedy  these  two  defects  and  this  can  be  done  only 
by  the  judicious  renovation  of  the  personnel  of  the  school.  Each 
new  name  indicates  the  principle  which  presides  over  this  regen- 
eration. The  name  of  Magendie  gives  a  guarantee  in  this 
respect  and  this  is  why  we  speak  it  at  this  time.  M.  Magendie 
enjoys  a  name  which  is  pretty  well  renowned  in  the  world  of 
savants,  and  a  reputation  for  independence  which  we  believe  to 
be  well  merited ;  the  school  can  only  gain  by  joining  him  to  itself, 
for  it  will  acquire  thereby  the  consideration  of  those  beyond  its 
own  circle  and  an  element  of  independence  within  itself.  With  re- 
gard to  the  interests  of  science,  we  have  no  doubt  that  these  will 
be  sufficiently  served  by  this  appointment ;  for  with  M.  Magendie 
there  will  enter  into  the  school  a  new  scientific  spirit  different 
from  that  which  now  dominates  there.  He  will  bring  there  new 
doctrines  which,  though  we  are  a  long  way  from  endorsing  them, 
ought  to  have  a  voice.  Teaching  bodies,  like  all  other  bodies, 
become  modified  in  spirit  only  very  slowly ;  they  willingly  live 
under  the  domination  of  traditions ;  the  principal  characteristics 
of  their  doctrines  are  conservatism  and  exclusiveness.  When 
one  considers  that  at  the  time  of  the  mighty  invasion  of  the 
system  of  M.   Broussais"'  the  school  could  not  be  appreciably 

s^Vol.  I,  pp.  223  and  326.    June  12,  and  September  4,  1830. 

"^Frangois-Josepli- Victor  Broussais  (1772- 1838)  was  born  at  St.  Malo, 
and  came  to  Paris  in  1799,  where  he  obtained  his  degree  in  1803.  In  1805, 
he  became  an  army  surgeon,  serving  in  Germany,  Holland,  Spain  and  Italy, 


48  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

affected  and  opposed  the  invasion  with  an  unshaken  firmness, 
one  wishes  to  see  broken  in  some  way  that  soHdarity,  that 
uniformity  of  ideas  which  has  in  it  something  of  egotism  and 
lethargy.  The  acquisition  of  men  with  fixed  and  inflexible  opin- 
ions of  their  own  will  contribute  to  this  happy  change.  We  are 
indeed  a  long  way  off,  we  repeat  it,  from  wishing  too  great 
success  to  the  theories,  be  they  general  or  special,  of  M. 
Magendie,  and  if  their  implantation  in  the  school  seems  to  us 
to  be  good,  it  is  not  so  much  because  of  their  intrinsic  value  as 
because  they  are  very  different  from  those  which  long  custom  has 
rendered  sacred  there.  The  ideas  of  M.  Magendie  will  break  up 
uniformity  and  stimulate  activity."  ®* 

Magendie  received  the  appointment  and  in  the  year  1830 
took  possession  of  the  Oiair  of  Medicine  at  the  College.  The 
opportunity  had  at  last  arrived  for  introducing  into  the  forefront 
of  medical  teaching  in  Paris  the  ideas  which  had  made  him 
famous  in  physiology,  and  of  establishing  in  medicine  the  experi- 
mental method.  But  Magendie's  activity  in  this  field  was  des- 
tined to  receive  a  sudden,  though  only  temporary,  check. 

Cholera  in  Paris,  i8j2. 

In  1826,  a  cloud  began  to  gather  in  the  valley  of  the  Ganges. 
It  grew  slowly  and  gradually  spread  westward.  It  arrived  at 
Cabul  in  1827,  and  in  the  next  year  reached  the  Persian  capital, 
driving  the  Shah  and  his  terror-stricken  court  in  flight  to  the 
mountains.  It  was  the  second  pandemic  of  Asiatic  cholera'""  and 
now  it  crossed  the  frontier  and  swept  down  upon  Europe. 
Ohrenberg  was  smitten  in  1829.  For  a  while  St.  Petersburg  was 
protected  by  a  triple  cordon  of  troops,  but  soon  the  pestilence 
crept  in  through  the  lines.  Leaving  death  and  riot  in  its  wake,  the 
cholera  passed  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Cronstadt,  Hamburg,  and 

and  returning  to  Paris  in  1814.  His  doctrine  resembles  that  of  John 
Brown.  It  points  to  excitation  or  irritation  as  the  fundamental  phenome- 
non of  life,  and  to  an  over-irritation  as  the  principal  cause  of  disease.  His 
lectures  were  attended  by  crowds  of  enthusiastic  students.  His  "Examen 
de  la  doctrine  medicale  generalement  adoptee"  (1816)  drew  upon  him  the 
hatred  of  the  whole  medical  faculty.  By  degrees  his  views  were  accepted, 
and,  in  1831,  he  became  professor  of  pathology  in  the  Academy  of  Med- 
icine. 

"''"Elles  briseraient  I'uniformite  et  provoqueraient  du  mouvement." 
looSee:   E.   C.   Wendt.     A  Treatise  on   Asiatic   Cholera.     New   York, 
1885;   page   16.     Also:   A.   Hirsch.     Handbook  of  Geographical  and  His- 
torical  Pathology.     Transl.  by  Chas.   Creighton.     London,    1883.     Vol.    I. 
page  397. 


THIRD  PERIOD,  182I-1855.  49 

thence  to  Sunderland.'"^  Meanwhile,  it  had  crossed  the  Polish 
frontiers,  overridden  the  Prussian  and  Austrian  armies  posted  to 
intercept  it,  and  devastated  Germany. 

In  1832,  Magendie  came  before  the  Academy.  "I  am  a 
physician,"  he  said,'"^  "and  that  vocation  calls  me  to  the  focus 
of  evil.  I  am  going  to  Sunderland,  hoping  that  by  studying  the 
cholera  in  the  place  of  its  appearance  I  shall  bring  back  from 
tliere  some  useful  suggestions.  Give  me  more  authority  by 
making  me  your  delegate."  Accompanied  by  Guillot,'"'  he 
proceeded  to  the  infected  seaport.  Thence,  he  was  directed  to 
the  seat  of  the  first  outbreak  among  the  fishing  population  scat- 
tered along  the  coast.  Here  he  found  collections  of  individuals 
dwelling  in  most  miserable  huts,  exposed  to  dampness,  filth,  and 
vice;  living,  sleeping  and  eating  among  the  dead  and  dying, 
with  instincts  so  brutal  as  to  preclude  the  hope  of  any  helpful 
intervention.  Dejected  he  returned  to  Paris,  wliere  to  the  often 
repeated  question  "What  shall  we  do?"  he  could  only  answer 
sadly,  "I  do  not  clearly  know." 

How  the  disease  reached  Paris'"*  is  unknown,  but  there  seem 
to  have  been  unreported  cases  there  before  the  great  outbreak 
on  March  24,  1832.  By  the  first  of  April  the  mortality  had  risen 
to  500  a  day,  and  before  the  end  of  three  weeks  7,000  persons  had 
perished.  The  Parisians  at  first  met  the  cholera  with  the  careless 
bravado  which  characterized  them,  but  as  the  disease  spread,  this 
changed  into  a  panic.  Most  of  the  Deputies  and  Ministers  fled, 
but  the  Royal  Family  remained  in  Paris.  King  Louis-Philippe 
was  only  restrained  from  visiting  the  Hotel-Dieu  by  the  eiTorts 
of  his  councillors.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  went  in  his  stead, 
accompanied  by  the  Minister  Casimir-Perier.  The  latter  was 
smitten  by  the  disease  and  died. 

"The  rich,"  said  Magendie,""  "will  not  lack  physicians,"  and 
he  turned  his  steps  towards  the  Hotel-Dieu.  Physicians,  Sisters 
of  Charity,  ladies  of  the  wealthy  and  of  the  less  opulent  classes, 
all  rivalled  each  other  in  their  courage  and  activity  in  the  homes 
and  in  the  hospitals. 

Among  the  most  ignorant,  mad  rumors  changed  terror  into 

iwSunderland,  a  seaport  in  Durhamshire,  twelve  miles  southeast  of 
Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

'o^F:  p.  47. 

losfjataiijj  Guillot  subsequently  became  a  member  of  the  Faculty. 

^"^See  H.  Martin.  Histoire  de  France  depuis  1789  jusqu'a  nos  Jours. 
2  Ed.  Paris.  1879.    Vol.  S,  pp.  23-24. 

106F:  p.  49. 


50  A   BIOGRAPHY  OF   FEANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

fury.  The  cry  went  up  that  this  was  not  an  epidemic,  but  a 
conspiracy  of  which  the  poor  were  victims,  and  mobs  surged 
through  the  streets  howling,  "Vengeance !  Death  to  the  doctors ! 
Death  to  the  poisoners !"  M.  Grisquet,  the  Prefect  of  PoHce, 
seemed  powerless.  He  had  issued  an  order  forbidding  the 
throwing  into  the  streets  of  dirt,  garbage  and  rubbish,  but  the 
people,  led  by  the  rag-pickers,  rioted  and  erected  barricades. 
Political  parties  accused  each  other  of  the  poisoning,  and  persons 
were  killed  by  the  rabble  in  their  frenzy. 

At  length  the  epidemic  abated,  having  in  the  six  months  of 
its  visitation  carried  off  18,402""  persons  out  of  a  population  of 
about  800,000  souls. ^'"  The  rioting  ceased.  Paris  became  in 
outward  appearance  as  of  old.  Magendie  returned  to  his 
laboratory  and  his  experiments,  but  not,  however,  until  he  had 
received  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  "I  think  it  very  well 
awarded,"  ^"'  he  was  heard  to  remark  with  his  characteristic 
frankness. 

Lectures,  1832-1852. 

During  the  great  epidemic  of  1832,  Magendie  continued  his 
lectures  at  the  College,  and  then  was  given  the  classic  series  on  the 
cholera  (74).  In  these  he  found  abundance  of  opportunity  for 
decrying  the  unwholesome  tendency  of  those  who  sought  to 
explain  the  origin  of  the  epidemic  by  speculative  reasoning.  "In 
confining  ourselves,"^"®  said  he,  "to  scientific  and  experimental 
progress,  one  does  not  reach  such  results  as  tliese.  After  having 
discussed  all  the  facts  which  the  cholera  has  furnished  us,  it  is 
possible  that  we  may  find  it  our  duty  to  avow  frankly  that  several 
questions  of  the  greatest  importance  relative  to  the  epidemic  are 
still  unsolved.  If  such  be  our  conclusion,  I  shall  not  hesitate 
to  acknowledge  it ;  my  mission  to  you  is  not  to  please,  but  to 
enlighten,  to  show  you  the  true  path  without  which  science  can 
make  no  certain  step." 

This  series  of  lectures  was  followed  by  another  on  the  phys- 
ical phenomena  of  life  (79).  Here  he  dealt  first  with  the  rela- 
tions of  the  processes  of  life  to  certain  physical  properties  of  the 
tissues,  porosity  and  imbibition  or  absorption,  viscosity  and  the 

'""P.  Langlois.  Article  on  "Cholera."  La  Grande  Encyclopedie, 
Paris,  xi,  p.  212. 

lO^E.  H.  Vollet  (Article  on  "Paris,"  ibidem,  xxv,  p.  1068)  states  that 
the  population  of  Paris  in  1831  was  785,812 ;  in  1836,  899,313  persons. 

108F:  p.  50. 

io9Le(;ons  sur  le  Cholera-Morbus.     Pages  4-5. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  5^ 

circulation  of  the  blood,  elasticity  and  the  behavior  of  the  arteries. 
Thence  he  passed  to  a  discussion  of  the  heart  sounds  in  health 
and  in  disease.  Animal  hydraulics  next  occupied  his  attention 
and  in  this  connection  he  demonstrated  many  phenomena  of  the 
circulation  by  means  of  Poiseuille's  new  instrument  of  precision, 
the  mercury  manometer.  He  estimated  the  changes  in  the  venous 
and  arterial  pressure  resulting  from  the  injection  of  such  liquids 
as  warm  water,  cold  water,  weak  alcohol,  coffee  and  so  forth,  and 
also  the  effect  of  painful  or  agreeable  sensations.  All  the 
changes  in  blood  pressure  thus  obtained  he  attributed  to  altera- 
tions in  the  heart  action.  The  effect  of  defibrination  was  then 
observed  and  the  resulting  extravasations  of  blood  commented 
upon.  The  effect  upon  the  blood  of  various  drinks,  drugs  and 
gases  was  next  treated,  "topics  which,"  he  said,  "throw  much 
light  upon  some  very  important  diseases,"  and  finally  the  micro- 
scopical appearances  of  the  blood  corpuscles  were  carefully 
considered. 

A  third  series  of  lectures  was  then  begun,  this  time  on  the 
functions  and  diseases  of  the  nervous  system  (82).  These  lec- 
tures, like  those  on  the  physical  phenomena  of  life,  were  collected 
by  Constantin  James  and  subsequently  published. 

Throughout  these  courses  of  lectures,  in  the  midst  of  an 
inexhaustible  wealth  of  facts,  one  finds  everywhere  the  two 
prevailing  ideas  of  Magendie — the  inseparability  of  medicine  and 
physiology,  and  the  all-importance  of  the  experimental  method. 
He  was  lavish  in  his  experiments ;  instead  of  lecturing  he  often 
performed  researches  in  the  presence  of  his  class.  "He  had  a 
gift,"  says  Flourens,  "of  seizing  phenomena  as  they  passed  and  as 
they  were,  so  to  speak,  on  the  wing." 

Still,  as  a  teacher,  Magendie  was  never  popular.  He  followed 
no  plan,  and  at  the  commencement  of  a  lecture  did  not  know 
whither  his  fancy  might  lead  him.  For  those  persons,  therefore, 
whose  object  it  was  to  study  the  principles  of  science,  his  lectures 
were  not  at  all  adapted ;  but  for  those  anxious  to  find  out  how 
new  discoveries  are  made,  and  wishing  to  become  discoverers 
themselves,  there  could  not  be  a  better  school  than  the  courses 
given  by  him. 

Relation  of  Magendie  to  His  Students. 

In  his  intercourse  with  his  students  the  singular  asperity  of 
Magendie's  character  again  showed  itself.  "When  a  young  man 
full  of  the  ardor  of  youth,  came  to  consult  Magendie  regarding 
ideas,  projects  of  work,  on  which  he  had  based  the  fondest  hopes. 


52  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF    FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

he  always  experienced  at  the  hands  of  Magendie  a  complete  dis- 
illusioning. These  frank  councils  were  often  badly  received. 
But  Magendie  thought  them  a  useful  test  whereby  later  and  more 
cruel  deceptions  might  be  avoided.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  one 
came  to  him  with  a  fact,  with  the  result  of  an  experiment  of 
which  he  wished  to  speak,  Magendie's  first  reply  was  always  a 
denial :  'All  that  that  you  are  saying,'  he  would  reply,  'is  impos- 
sible, you  are  mistaken.'  *  *  *  But  if  one  opposed  him  and, 
strong  in  the  truth  of  what  he  was  saying,  wished  to  take  him  to 
see  it,  Magendie  never  refused  to  go;  on  the  contrary  he  asked 
to  go,  and,  if  a  good  experiment  were  performed  for  him,  which 
fully  proved  the  statement  which  had  been  made,  he  was  most 
happy  to  acknowledge  it  and  to  compliment  the  author  who  forth- 
with acquired  his  esteem  and  sympathy."  "" 

"Theoretical  discussions  were  always  distasteful  to  him;''^ 
he  desired  nothing  but  facts,  he  wished  only  to  see.  T  have  eyes 
but  no  ears,'  he  used  to  say.  When  some  one  said  to  him,  'Ac- 
cording to  this  law  it  should  happen  thus,  or  analogy  indicates 
that  the  phenomenon  will  take  place  in  such  a  way;'  'I  know 
nothing  about  it,'  he  would  reply,  'experiment  and  you  will  say 
what  you  have  seen.'  Experiment,  such  was  the  reply  which  he 
invariably  made  during  forty  years  to  all  questions  of  this  kind. 
The  worship  of  experimentation  was  never  carried  so  far ;  argu- 
ment and  induction  were  absolutely  nothing  to  Magendie."  This 
characteristic  is  seen  again  and  again  in  his  writings  and  also  in 
the  following  anecdote  told  by  Bernard,  who  for  many  years 
assisted  him  in  his  experiments. 

"One  of  the  great  savants  with  whom  Germany  is  honored, 
the  celebrated  Fr.  Tiedemann,"-  came  once  upon  a  time  on  one 
of  his  journeys  to  Paris  to  pay  a  visit  to  Magendie,  who  was  then 
occupied  with  researches  on  the  cerebro-spinal  fluid  (87).  Ma- 
gendie offered,  as  is  the  custom  among  savants,  to  show  him  his 
experiments  and  have  him  see  the  cerebro-spinal  fluid  oscillating 
below  the  visceral  layer  of  the  arachnoid.  'That  is  contrary,'  re- 
plied Tiedemann,  'to  the  law  of  Bichat  which  we  know  regarding 

"OB :  pp.  28-29. 

'"This  and  the  remaining  quotations  in  this  subsection  are  from  Ber- 
nard. 

"^Friedrich  Tiedemann  (1781-1861),  anatomist  and  physiologist,  was 
born  in  Cassel,  and  was  graduated  in  medicine  at  Marburg.  He  became  a 
pupil  of  Cuvier  in  Paris.  Later,  in  1816,  he  became  professor  of  anatomy 
and  physiology  at  Heidelberg.    He  died  at  Munich. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-1855.  53 

serous  membranes.  The  liquids  which  are  secreted  by  these 
membranes  are  never  outside  of  them ;  they  are  enclosed  in  their 
cavities.'  'I  have  not  concerned  myself  about  that,'  replied  Ma- 
gendie,  'whether  or  not  it  accords  with  the  law  of  the  physiology 
of  the  serous  membranes,  but  I  take  it  upon  myself  to  show  you 
upon  a  living  animal  that  the  cerebro-spinal  fluid  lies  under  the 
visceral  fold  of  the  arachnoid.'  " 

"He  esteemed  experimenters  more  than  philosophers.  He 
distrusted  those  who  held  premature  generalizations ;  he  thought 
that  these  generalizations  could  be  made  very  easily  and,  so  to 
speak,  quite  of  themselves,  when  the  number  of  facts  was  suffi- 
cient. According  to  him  the  collecting  of  material  was  for  the 
present  the  only  occupation  of  the  physiologist."  "In  our  famil- 
iar conversations,"  writes  Bernard,  "he  sometimes  stated  his 
opinion  on  this  subject  in  a  manner  which  was  both  picturesque 
and  satirical.  'Everyone,'  he  used  to  say  to  me,  'compares  him- 
self to  something  in  his  sphere  more  or  less  grandiose,  to 
Archimedes,  to  Michel  Angelo,  to  Newton,  to  Galileo,  to  Des- 
cartes, and  so  forth.  Louis  XIV  compared  himself  to  the  sun. 
With  regard  to  myself,  I  am  more  humble;  I  compare  myself  to 
a  ragpicker ;  with  my  hook  in  my  hand  and  my  basket  on  my 
back,  I  traverse  the  domain  of  science  and  gather  up  what  I 
find.' " 

Vivisection. 

"Experimental  physiologists,"  writes  Bernard,"'  "ought  not 
to  forget  a  real  service  which  Magendie  rendered  in  habituating 
the  public,  so  to  speak,  to  the  idea  of  the  scientific  necessity  of 
experimentation  on  living  animals.  Such  experiments  used  to 
be  shut  up  and,  as  it  were,  hidden  from  the  public  in  the  depths 
of  the  schools.  To-day  one  can  advertise  in  the  streets  of  Paris 
a  course  in  vivisection  given  in  a  particular  building."  "In 
England,"  adds  Bernard,  "this  prejudice  still  persists." 

Certain  it  is  that  the  name  of  Magendie  was  hateful  to  the 
ears  of  the  English  antivivisectionists,  who  had  denounced  to 
Parliament,  in  1820,  "this  stranger"  [Magendie  was  then  in 
London]  "whose  offensive  temerity  has  broken  through  all  the 
humanitarian  barriers  established  by  English  zoophilism."  ^^* 

"Though  as  a  vivisector,"  writes  Bernard,""  "M.  Magendie 

i"B :  p.  14  et  seq. 
"*F:  p.  25. 


54  A   BIOGRAPHY  OF  FRANgOIS   MAGENDIE. 

has  always  put  himself  above  prejudices,  still  he  never  braved 
them  with  ostentation,  and  he  explained  in  his  course  how  the 
science  of  the  phenomena  of  life,  necessarily  based  on  a  study 
of  the  living,  demands  vivisection,  and  how  this  kind  of  experi- 
ment, dominated  and  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  science,  no  more 
deserves  the  reproach  of  cruelty  than  the  vivisection  of  the  sur- 
geon dominated  by  the  idea  of  saving  the  life  of  his  patient." 

"I  am  far  from  disavowing  my  experimental  studies,"  ^^^  said 
Magendie  on  one  occasion  to  the  assembled  academicians,  "but 
I  beg  my  honorable  colleague  to  observe  that  I  experiment  upon 
animals  precisely  because  I  do  not  wish  to  experiment  on  men." 
Again  in  the  preface  of  the  fifth  edition  of  his  "Formulary,"  he 
deprecates  the  fear  "which  has  been  and  still  is  entertained  by 
many,  that  the  medicines  might  act  altogether  differently  upon 
man  and  upon  the  other  animals,  *  *  *"  "Nothing, 
however,"  he  adds,  "is  more  false  than  this  idea ;  fifteen  years' 
experience  in  my  laboratory  and  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick, 
enables  me  to  affirm  that  these  medicines  and  poisons  act  in  the 
same  manner  upon  man  as  upon  the  other  animals.  My  confi- 
dence in  this  respect  is  such,  that  I  do  not  hesitate  to  use  on 
myself  the  substances  which  I  have  found  harmless  in  their 
effects  upon  other  animals ;  and  I  should  not  advise  any  one  to 
make  the  inverse  experiment." 

That  Alagendie  did  not  treat  with  gruffness  and  discourtesy 
those  who  differed  from  him  on  the  question  of  vivisection  is 
expressly  stated  by  Bernard,  who  also  tells  an  anecdote  to  illus- 
trate this  point. 

"I  had  then  been,"  writes  Bernard,""  "M.  Magendie's  assist- 
ant for  fifteen  years  and  was  helping  him  in  an  experiment, 
when  he  saw  enter  an  elderly  man,  tall,  dressed  in  black,  wearing 
on  his  head  a  hat  with  a  very  broad  brim,  a  coat  with  a  narrow 
collar  and  short  breeches.  From  this  costume  we  readily  per- 
ceived that  we  were  in  the  presence  of  a  Quaker.  'I  wish,'  said 
he,  'to  speak  with  M.  Magendie.'  M.  Magendie  made  himself 
known.  The  Quaker  continued,  'I  have  heard  thee  talked  of  and 
I  see  that  the  report  is  true ;  for  it  is  said  that  thou  performest 
experiments  on  living  animals.  I  come  to  see  thee  to  demand  of 
thee  by  what  right  thou  actest  thus  and  to  tell  thee  that  thou 

iii'C:  February,  1847,  xxiv,  p.  142. 
ii«B:  p.  15. 


THIRD  PERIOD,   182I-18S5.  55 

must  desist  from  these  experiments  because  thou  hast  not  the 
right  to  cause  animals  to  die  or  to  make  them  suffer,  and  because 
thou  settest  in  this  way  a  bad  example  and  also  accustomest 
thyself  to  cruelty.'  All  the  paraphernalia  of  the  experiment  were 
immediately  put  aside,  and  M.  Magendie  proceeded  to  develop 
his  argument  in  justification  of  the  vivisectors.  'It  is  necessary,' 
he  replied  to  the  Quaker,  'to  place  yourself  at  another  point  of 
view  in  order  to  judge  experiments  on  living  animals.  It  is 
certain  that  if  they  did  not  have  for  their  aim  and  their  result  the 
service  of  humanity,  they  might  be  taxed  with  cruelty.  But  the 
physiologist  who  is  moved  by  the  thought  of  making  a  discovery 
useful  to  medicine,  and  consequently  to  his  fellow  man,  does  not 
merit  such  a  reproach.  Your  compatriot  Harvey,'  he  added, 
'would  not  have  discovered  the  circulation  of  the  blood  had  he 
not  performed  experiments  on  the  deer  in  the  park  of  King 
Charles  I.  Now  who  dares  deny  that  this  discovery  has  rendered 
the  greatest  service  to  humanity,  and  who  dares  accuse  its  author 
of  having  been  cruel?  War,'  continued  M.  Magendie,  'would 
itself  be  a  barbarous  cruelty,  if  one  did  not  consider  its  aim 
and  its  result  for  humanity.  But  what  one  can  condemn  is  per- 
haps the  chase,  for  then  animals  are  caused  to  suffer  and  are 
killed  merely  for  pleasure.'  *  *  *  'Oh !  certainly,'  inter- 
rupted the  Quaker,  'I  condenm  war  and  hunting  just  as  much  as 
I  condemn  experiments  on  living  animals.  In  all  these  cases  man 
gives  himself  rights  which  he  has  not  got;  that  is  what  I  wish  to 
prove  and  I  am  traveling  in  order  to  cause  to  disappear  from  the 
world  these  three  things,  war,  hunting  and  experiments  on  living 
animals.'  Without  doubt  the  Quaker  was  not  convinced  by  M. 
Magendie,  and  no  more  was  M.  Magendie  by  the  Quaker.  But 
I  wish  to  show  that  M.  Magendie  used  to  treat  the  subject  with 
all  the  consideration  which  was  due  to  it,  and  in  this  case,  besides, 
to  the  worthy  sentiments  which  had  prompted  the  journey  of 
the  Quaker." 

Certain  it  is  that  Magendie  was  one  of  the  heroes  of  the 
pestilence,  a  kind  physician  at  the  Salpetriere,  a  lover  of  animals 
who  in  the  days  of  his  prosperity  spent  all  his  spare  time  in  his 
stables  and  in  the  days  of  his  poverty  shared  his  five  sous  a  day 
with  his  dog.  Hence,  in  the  absence  of  conflicting  evidence,  it 
seems  justifiable  to  conclude  that  he  was  neither  unreasonably 
inconsiderate  nor  heartless  in  his  treatment  of  the  subjects  of 
his  study  and  experimentation. 


56  A   BIOGRAPHY  OF   FRANgOIS   MAGENDIE. 

THE  LAST  DECADE. 

Resignation  from  the  Hotel-Dieu. 

On  retiring  from  active  work  at  the  Hotel-Dieu,  in  1845/^' 
Magendie  received  the  title  of  honorary  physician  to  the  hospitals 
of  Paris.  He  still  frequented  the  sessions  of  the  Academy  and 
there  took  a  very  active  part  in  the  discussions  of  that  body. 
This  seems,  however,  to  have  ceased  after  1849,  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  absence  of  his  name  from  the  accounts  published 
in  the  Comptes  Rendus. 

The  date  of  Magendie's  removal  from  Paris  to  the  country 
is  uncertain  but  probably  occurred  about  this  time.  His  activity 
remained  unabated,  however,  for  Flourens  informs  us  that  he 
established  a  Httle  dispensary  in  his  house  for  the  benefit  of  his 
rustic  neighbors,  and  performed  numerous  experiments  in  plant 
physiolog;y  and  in  agriculture.^'* 

He  must  still  have  spent  much  of  his  time  in  Paris,  for  he 
was  the  president  of  the  advisory  committee  on  public  hygiene 
which  was  established  under  the  Department  of  Interior  in 
1848.  In  this  capacity  he  had  opportunity  to  do  battle  successfully 
with  charlatanism.  His  services  led  the  government  to  ofifer 
him,  in  1851,  the  cross  of  the  Commander  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  This,  however,  he  refused,  thinking  that  its  acceptance 
might  detract  from  his  reputation  for  disinterested  loyalty."® 

In  1851-2  he  was  still  lecturing  at  the  College,  and  his 
lectures  were  collected,  analyzed  and  published  in  the  latter  year 
by  Dr.  Fauconneau  Dufresne  (94).  He  still  continued  to  sit 
on  the  board  of  examiners  for  the  prizes  in  experimental  physi- 
ology'-" and  medicine  and  surgery,  but  it  is  interesting  to  observe 
that  among  the  other  members  of  these  committees  the  name 
of  Magendie's  pupil  and  successor  Claude  Bernard  has  begun 
to  appear. 

^^''D :  p.  180.  Also :  Gaz.  mcd.  de  Paris,  1845,  ser.  ii.  xiii.  p.  714.  In 
C.  Schaile's  directory,  "Les  Medicins  de  Paris"  (Paris,  1845,  p.  445),  Ma- 
gendie's address  is  given  as  "Quai  Malaquais,  5,"  and  his  consultation 
hours  "From  12  to  2  P.  M."  In  the  summer  of  1905  Professor  Brubaker 
found  two  old  three-story  houses,  Nos.  5  and  7,  still  standing  on  the  Quai 
facing  the  site  of  the  old  Hotel-Dieu. 

'i^F:  pp.  52-53.    A  street  in  Sannois  still  bears  Magendie's  name. 

""F :  p.  55. 

iso^cf  C.  xlii,  Jan.  28,  1856,  pp.  137  and  147. 


THIRD  PERIOD,    182I-1855.  57 

As  late  as  1853,  Magendie  presented  to  the  Academy  the 
fourth  vohime  of  memoirs'-'  published  by  the  Hippiatric  Com- 
mission. 

Death  of  Magendie,  1855. 

At  last  heart  disease,  the  fatal  malady  from  which  he  had 
suffered  for  many  years,  began  to  press  him  hard.  Nevertheless, 
even  sickness  and  the  approach  of  death  did  not  break  his  spirit. 
He  regarded  his  symptoms  as  interesting  phenomena  and  studied 
them,  and  one  of  his  last  speeches  to  a  colleague  began  with  the 
words,  "Here  you  see  me  completing  my  experiments."  Those 
who  might  have  had  something  to  complain  of  in  regard  to 
his  bluntness,  all  went  to  see  him.  Magendie  was  touched  by 
sentiments  which  he  had  "merited  rather  than  attracted. "'"- 
"Know,"  said  he  to  one  of  his  former  competitors,  "that  my 
asperity  increased  in  proportion  to  the  worth  which  I  recognized 
in  those  towards  whom  I  exercised  it." 

On  Sunday,  October  7,  1855,  in  his  country  house  at  Sannois, 
ten  miles  from  Paris,  Magendie  died  in  his  seventy-first  year. 
Next  day  at  the  opening  of  the  session^-^  President  Regnault 
"announced  to  the  Academy  the  sad  loss  which  it  had  just  sus- 
tained in  the  person  of  M.  Magendie,  deceased  the  evening 
before  after  a  long  and  painful  illness."  Flourens,  the  permanent 
secretary,  added  "that  this  loss,  greatly  felt  by  all  persons  who 
cultivate  the  sciences,  will  be  peculiarly  felt  by  those  who  are 
interested  in  the  progress  of  experimental  physiology,  a  science 
in  which  Magendie  had  by  his  great  labors  made  for  himself  an 
eminent   place." 

The  funeral  services  were  held,  October  nth,  at  the  Church 
of  the  Madeleine,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  number  of  notable 
scientists.  The  procession  was  led  by  Drs.  de  Puisaye  and  Ro- 
berty,  nephews  of  the  deceased.  The  cords  of  the  canopy  were 
held  by  Flourens  and  Serres,  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  Stan- 
islas Julien,  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions  and  Belles-Lettres, 
Villerme,  of  the  Academy  of  Moral  and  Political  Sciences,  Du- 
bois (d'Amiens),  Permanent  Secretary  of  the  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine, and  Davenne,  Superintendent  of  the  Bureau  of  Public  Aid. 

i2>C:  xxxvi,  Aug.  8,  1853,  p.  231.    The  third  volume  had  been  presented 
by  Magendie  two  years  earlier.     See:  Ibid.:  xxxiii,  Sept.  i,  1851,  p.  253. 
'22Phrase  used  by  Fontenelle  in  speaking  of  an  Academician  of  his  day. 
i"C :  xli,  185s,  p.  547. 


58  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

The  burial  took  place  in  the  cemetery  of  Pere  Lachaise"* 
and  orations  were  made  over  the  grave  by  Andral  (for  Serres) 
in  the  name  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  by  Flourens  in  the  name 
of  the  College  of  France,  by  Dubois  (d'Amiens)  in  the  name  of 
the  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  by  Villerme  in  the  name  of  the 
Committee  on  Public  Hygiene. 

^Magendie's  monument  in  Pere  Lachaise  bears  the  following  inscrip- 
tion: 

"F.  Magendie 

1783-1855 

Martini  Gabrielle  de  St.  Maurice 

I 826- I 904 

H.  Magendie  nee  de  Puisaye 

1802-1868." 

The  lot  in  this  cemetery  was  acquired  by  Magendie's  widow  after  her 
husband's  death.  She  was  then  living  at  No.  8,  rue  d'Anjou  St.  Honore. 
Henriette-Bartienne  (born  de  Puisaye)  was  the  widow  and  heiress  of 
Nicolas-Theodore  Audinot.  Her  home  was  at  No.  17,  rue  de  Vendome 
(now  rue  Beranger).  On  April  10,  1830,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  she 
was  married  to  Magendie,  who  was  then  forty-seven  years  of  age  and  at 
that  time  was  residing  at  No.  30,  rue  de  Seine.  The  civil  marriage  cere- 
mony was  performed  at  the  Mairie  of  the  sixth  arrondissement  (approxi- 
mately the  present  third  arrondissement  or  Mairie  de  Temple).  The  re- 
ligious ceremony  took  place  in  the  rue  de  Temple  at  the  Church  of  St. 
Elizabeth. 


MAGENDIE'S   ROLE   IN   SCIENCE 


The  death  of  the  renowned  savant  was  the  occasion  of 
several  lengthy  addresses.  Flourens,  the  permanent  secretary 
of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  made  an  address,  and  so  did  Dubois, 
the  permanent  secretary  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine.  Bernard, 
his  pupil  and  successor  in  the  chair  of  medicine  at  the  College 
de  France,  devoted,  according  to  custom,  his  first  lecture  to  a 
review  of  Magendie's  life  and  work.  Accordingly,  his  merits, 
his  shortcomings,  his  eccentricities  have  all  been  discussed  and 
criticised  by  those  of  his  colleagues  who  survived  him.  What 
then  is  their  verdict?  What  is  the  debt  which  posterity  owes  to 
Magendie?    Is  it  great?    What  is  its  character? 

Flourens,  Dubois  and  Bernard  have  answered  these  ques- 
tions so  carefully  and  fairly,  in  words  so  precise  and  admirable, 
that  one  cannot  do  better  than  quote  from  their  addresses. 

"  'Science,'  said  Guizot,'"  'has  its  sublime  speculators  who 
are,  so  to  speak,  its  prophets  who  detect  instantly  the  great  laws 
of  the  universe  and  grasp  them,  as  Columbus  discovered  the 
New  World,  hastening  to  the  search  in  the  faith  of  an  idea. 
Around  them  are  drawn  up  the  sagacious  observers  who  excel 
in  searching  out.  establishing  particular  truths,  describing  them 
and  uniting  them  successfully  to  the  domain  of  science.  And 
into  this  domain  thus  enriched  enter  legislative  minds  who  classify 
the  facts  received,  note  their  relations  and  determine  their  laws, 
and  transform  them  into  those  general  formulas  which  define  the 
present  state  of  science  and  become  the  points  of  departure  and 
the  instrument  of  future  conquests.' 

"Magendie  had  nothing  in  common  with  those  enthusiastic 
and  exalted  minds  which,  inspired  by  pure  speculation,  launch 
themselves  a  little  recklessly  into  the  field  of  science,  and  he 
despised  even  those  minds  which  hasten  to  co-ordinate  and  frame 
general  laws  from  facts  observed  by  others  .  .  .  His  mis- 
sion was  not  more  humble  but  more  simple,  more  attainable.  An 
observer  distrustful  and  acute,  an  e.xperimenter  ingenious  and 
critical,  Magendie  was  exclusively  devoted  to  verifying  and 
establishing  particular  scientific  facts.  Magendie,  it  is  true,  made 
no  important  discovery  in  physiology,  he  has  stated  no  new  law, 

"^D :  pp.  117,  118.  Guizot's  address  on  the  occasion  of  the  reception  of 
M.  Biot  at  the  Academie  Frangaise. 


6o  A    BIOGRAPHY   OF   FRANgOIS    MAGENDIE. 

but  he  has  put  facts  hitherto  full  of  obscurity  in  such  light,  he 
has  given  such  a  degree  of  certainty  to  the  evidence  of  things 
previously  doubtful  or  imperfectly  known,  that  he  can  with  good 
right  place  his  name  by  those  of  discoverers." 

"I  believe,"  said  Dubois  in  his  funeral  oration,'-"  "that  one 
does  not  go  too  far  in  saying  that  not  one  discovery  has  been 
made  in  our  day  which  has  not  been  controlled  and  verified  by 
M.  Magendie,  that  no  problem  has  been  solved  of  which  M. 
Magendie  has  not  sought  on  his  own  account  to  dissipate  the 
obscurities  and  penetrate  the  mysteries.  Others  have  shown 
more  initiative  and  by  their  inventive  genius  have  made  splendid 
the  field  of  science,  but  no  one  knew  better  than  he  how  to  order 
its  boundaries  and  establish  its  true  domain." 

"If  M.  Magendie,"  writes  Claude  Bernard,  "did  not  have 
the  ambition  to  leave  behind  him  generalizations,  he  did  wish  to 
leave  behind  him  investigators  for  the  definite  establishment  of 
experimental  method  in  the  medical  sciences,  and  in  this  respect 
he  has  the  glory  of  having  completely  attained  his  goal  . 
Look  at  the  physicians  and  even  the  physiologists  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century.  Experimenters  were  rare.  To-day  it  is  very 
different :  one  cannot  count  the  physiologists  who  perform  ex- 
periments ;  on  the  contrary,  one  counts  those  who  do  not,  and  the 
physiologists  who  are  not  experimenters  are  anomalies  which  we 
can  no  longer  under.stand." 

"Abroad,  the  experimental  method  has  been  propagated 
everywhere  and  has  spread  far  and  wide  in  physiological  science. 
Up  to  still  more  recently  physiology  in  Germany  was 
dominated  by  systems  of  philosophy.  To-day  it  advances 
with  great  strides  along  the  path  of  experimentation.  In  many 
of  the  German  universities  there  are  so-called  physiological 
institutes  which  are  nothing  but  laboratories  in  which  experi- 
ments on  living  animals  find  convenient  assistance  from  physics 
and  chemistry,  in  arriving  at  knowledge  of  the  phenomena  oc- 
curring in  the  living  organism.  Note  well  that  all  these  things 
are  of  recent  date,  that  they  have  followed  the  impulse  which 
has  been  given  in  France  to  experimental  physiology." 

In  the  words  of  Flourens,  "M.  Magendie  has  transmitted  to 
us  the  torch  of  experimental  physiology  which  has  not  trembled 
in  his  hand  for  one  single  instant  during  almost  half  a  century." 

126JT  p  Dubois.  Discours  prononce  aux  obseques  de  M.  F.  Magendie. 
Mem.  d.  I'Acad.  d.  Med.,  Paris,  1856,  xx,  p.  xxx.  An  incomplete  list  of 
Magendie's  works  is  appended  to  this  article. 


APPENDIX 

TITLES   OF    MAGENDIE's   PUBLICATIONS,  ARRANGED   CHRONOLOGICALLY. 

1.  Sur  les  usages  du  voile  du  palais,  avec  quelques  propositions  sur  la 
fracture  du  cartilage  des  cotes.    Paris,  1808. 

2.  Quelques  idees  generales  sur  les  phenomenes  particulier  aux  corps 
vivants.     In;  Bull.  d.  sc.  mcd.  Soc.  mcd.  d'cmulat.  de  Par.,  1809,  p.  145- 

3.  Memoire  sur  les  organes  de  I'absorption  chez  les  mammiferes.  Paris, 
1809.    Also  in:  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  18. 

4.  Examen  de  Taction  d.  quelques  vegetaux  sur  1.  moelle  epiniere  (avec 
R.  Delille).     Paris,  1809.     Also  in:  Nouv.  bull.  d.  I.  Soc.  philomath.,  i, 

p.  368. 

5.  Experiences  pour  servir  a  I'historie  de  la  transpiration  pulmonaire. 
In:  Nouv.  bull.  d.  I.  Soc.  philomath.,  Paris,  181 1,  ii. 

6.  Memoire  sur  le  vomissement.     Paris,  1813. 

7.  Memoire  sur  les  images  qui  se  forment  au  fond  de  I'oeil  et  sur  un 
moyen  tres  simple  de  les  apercevoir.     Paris,  1813. 

8.  De  I'influence  de  I'emetique  sur  I'homme  et  les  animaux.    Paris,  1813. 

9.  Memoire  sur  I'usage  de  I'epiglotte  dans  la  deglutition.  Paris,  1813. 
Second  "Memoire."    In:  /.  de  med.  d.  Leroux,  1813,  xxvi. 

10.  Memoire  sur  I'oesophage.  Paris,  1813.  Also  in:  /.  de  med.  d. 
Leroux,  1815,  xxxiv,  p.  255. 

11.  Precis  elementaire  de  physiologic.  2  vols.  Paris,  vol.  i,  1816;  vol. 
ii,  1817. 

Idem.  2.  Ed.  2  vols.    Paris.  1825. 

Idem.  3.  Ed.  2  vols.     Paris,  1833. 

Idem.  4.  Ed.  2  vols.    Paris,  1836. 

iia\  The  same.  A  summary  of  physiology.  Transl.  from  the  French 
by  John  Revere.    Baltimore,  1822. 

Iia^  The  same.  An  elementary  compendium  of  physiology,  for  the 
use  of  students.  Transl.  from  the  French,  with  copious  notes  and  illustra- 
tions, by  E.  Milligan,  M.D.  Revised  and  corrected  by  a  physician  of  Phil- 
adelphia.    With  an  appendix.     Philadelphia,  1824. 

iia°.  The  same.  An  elementary  treatise  on  human  physiology.  Transl. 
enlarged,  and  illustrated  with  diagrams  and  cuts,  especially  designed  for 
the  use  of  students  of  medicine,  by  John  Revere.     New  York,  1844. 

lib'.  The  same.  Lehrbuch  der  Physiologic.  Aus  dem  Franzosischen 
iibersetzt  von  D.  Hofacker.     Tiibingen,  1826.     2  vols. 

lib'.  The  same.  Lehrbuch  der  Physiologic.  Transl.  from  the  3.  French 
ed.  by  C.  L.  Elsasser.    2  vols.    TUbingen,  vol.  i,  1834;  vol.  ii,  1836. 

12.  Memoire  sur  la  deglutition  de  I'air  atmospherique.  Paris,  1816. 
Also  in :  /.  de  med.  d.  Leroux,  1816,  xx.xvi,  p.  9. 

13.  Memoire  sur  les  proprietes  nutritives  des  substances  qui  ne  con- 
tiennent  pas  d'azote.  Paris,  1816.  Also  in :  /.  de  mM.  d.  Leroux,  1817, 
xxxviii,  p.  306. 

14.  Note  sur  1.  gaz  intestinaux  de  I'homme.  In :  Ann.  d.  chim.  et  d. 
phys.,  1816,  ii. 

15.  (Magendie  et  Pelletier).  Recherches  chem.  et  physiol.  s.  ipecacu- 
anha.    In :  /.  univ.  d.  sc.  mcd.,  1816,  iv,  p.  322. 

16.  Memoire  sur  Taction  des  arteres  dans  la  circulation.  In :  /.  de  med. 
d.  Leroux,  1817,  xl,  p.  208;  also  in:  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  102. 


62  A   BIOGRAPHY  OF  FRANgOIS   MAGENDIE. 

17.  Recherches  physiologiques  et  medicales  sur  les  causes,  les  symptomes 
et  le  traitement  de  la  gravelle.     Paris,  1818. 

Idem.  Avec  quelques  remarques  sur  la  conduite  et  le  regime  que  doivent 
suivre  les  personnes  auxquelles  on  a  extrait  des  calculs  de  la  vessie.  2  ed., 
revue  et  augmentee.     Paris,  1828. 

I7a\  The  same.  Physiologisch-medicinische  Untersuchungen  iiber  die 
Ursachen,  Symptome  und  Behandlung  des  Grieses  und  Blasensteines.  Aus 
dem  Franzosischen  iibersetzt  von  Joh.  Gottfried  Zollner.     Leipzig,  1820. 

173^  The  same.  Physiologische  und  medicinische  Untersuchungen  iiber 
den  Harngries,  seine  Ursachen,  Symptome  und  Behandlung,  nebst  einigen 
Bemerkungen  iiber  Dlat  und  Verhalten  derjenigen,  die  von  Harnsteinen 
befreit  worden  sind.  Nach  der  2.  Aufl.  des  Franzosischen  bearbeitet  von 
Dr.  Friedrich  Ludwig  Meissner.     Leipzig,  1830. 

17b.  The  same.  Physiologisch-geneeskundig  onderzoek,  aangaande  de 
oorzaken,  verschijnselel  en  genezing  van  de  graveelen  steenziekte.  Uit 
het  Fransch.    Rotterdam,  no  date. 

18.  Note  sur  I'emploi  des  quelques  sels  d.  morphine  commes  medica- 
ment.    In :  Nouv.  J.  de  med.,  1818,  i. 

19.  Reflexions  sur  une  memoire  de  M.  A.  Portal  relatif  au  vomissement. 
In :  Nouv.  J.  de  med.,  1818,  i. 

20.  Recherches  physiologiques  et  chemiques  sur  I'emploi  de  I'acide  prus- 
sique  ou  hydrocyanique  dans  le  traitement  des  maladies  de  poitrine  et  par- 
ticulierement  dans  celui  de  la  phthisic  pulmonaire.     Paris,  1819. 

2oa.  The  same.  Physiological  and  chemical  researches  on  the  use  of 
prussic  or  hydrocyanic  acid.  .  .  .  Transl.  from  the  French,  with  notes, 
etc.,  by  James  G.  Percival.     New  Haven,  1820. 

21.  Memoire  sur  les  vaisseaux  lymphatiques  des  oiseaux.  Paris,  1819. 
Also  in :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  48. 

22.  Notes  sur  1.  effects  de  1.  strychnine  sur  1.  animaux.  In:  Ann.  d. 
chem.  et  d.  Pliys.,  1819,  xvi. 

23.  Formulaire  pour  la  preparation  et  I'emploi  de  plusieurs  nouveaux 
medicaments,  tels  que  la  noix  vomique,  la  morphine,  Tacide  prussique,  la 
strychnine,  la  veratrine,  les  alcalis  des  quinquinas,  I'emetine,  I'iode,  etc. 
Paris,  1821. 

Idem.  2.  Ed.  Paris,  1822. 

Idem.  3.  Ed.  Paris,  1822. 

Idem.  4.  Ed.  Paris,  1824. 

Idem.  S-  Ed.  Paris,  1825. 

Idem.  6.  Ed.  Paris,  1827. 

Idem.  Edition  entitled :  Formulaire  pour  la  preparation  et  I'emploi  de 
plusieurs  nouveaux  medicaments,  tels  que  la  noix  vomique,  1.  sels  d.  mor- 
phine, I'acide  prussique,  1.  strychnine,  1.  veratrine,  1.  sulfate  d.  quinine,  1. 
cinchinine,  I'emetine,  I'iode,  I'iodure  d.  mercure,  1.  cyanure  d.  potassium, 
I'huile  d.  croton  tiglium,  1.  sels  d'or,  1.  sels  d.  platine,  1.  chlorures  de  chaux 
et  d.  sonde,  1.  bicarbonates  alcalins,  1.  preparations  d.  phosphore,  1.  pastilles 
digestives  d.  Vichy,  I'ecorce  d.  1.  racine  d.  grenadier,  etc.    Paris,  1829. 

23a\  The  same.  Formulary  for  the  preparation  and  employment  of 
several  new  remedies.  .  .  .  Transl.  from  the  sixth  edition  of  the  For- 
mulaire   ...    by  Joseph  Houlton.    London,  1828. 

Idem.  London,  1829. 


APPENDIX.  63 

23a'.  The  same.  Transl.  from  the  French,  with  annotations  and  addi- 
tional articles,  by  James  Manby  Gully.    London,  1835. 

23a'.  The  same.  Transl.  from  the  8.  French  edition  by  Charles  Wilson 
Gregory.    London,  1835. 

23a*.  The  same.  Transl.  from  5.  ed.,  revised  and  augmented  by  John 
Baxter,  with  notes  and  additions.    2.  ed.    New  York,   1828. 

23a°.  The  same.  Transl.  from  the  French  by  Robley  Dunglison.  Phil- 
adelphia, 1824. 

23a'.  The  same.  Transl.  from  6.  ed.  .  .  .  by  J.  Houlton.  Phila- 
delphia, 1834. 

23b.  The  same.  Vorschriften  zur  Bereitung  und  Anwendung  einiger 
neuen  Arzneymittel.  Aus  dem  Franzosischen.  Nach  der  5.  Auflage  des 
Originals  besorgt  und  mit  Anmerkungen  und  Zusatzen  versehen  von  G. 
Kunze.  5.  Aufl.    Leipzig,  1826. 

23c.  The  same.  Voorschrift  tot  de  bereiding  en  het  gebruik  van  vele 
nieuwe  geneesmiddelen  .  .  .  Naar  het  Fransch  van  .  .  .  vertaald 
door  H.  W.  De  la  Rive  Box,  met  eenige  aanteekenigen  van  F.  van  der 
Breggen  Cz.  2.  ed.     Amsterdam,  1822. 

23d.  The  same.  Formulario  per  la  preparazione  e  I'use  di  molti  medi- 
camenti  nuovi.  .  .  .  Dal  francese  nell'  italiano  transportato  ed  accres- 
ciuto  di  note  ed  aggiunte  da  Antonio  Cattaneo.     Milano,  1822. 

Idem.  Nuova  ed.,  fatta  su  la  quarta  di  Pargi,  e  su  I'edizione  tedesca 
stampata  a  Lipsia,  con  appendice.    Pesaro,  1831. 

23e.  The  same.  Anvisning  att  bereda  och  nyttja  flere  nya  medika- 
menter,  sasom  nux  vomica,  morphin,  blasyra,  strychnin,  veratrin,  kinans 
saltbaser,  jod  m.  fl.  O  fversattning  fran  Tyskan  med  tillagg  af  P.  N. 
Fahlun,  1827. 

24.  Memoire  sur  1.  mecanisme  d.  I'absorption  chez  1.  animaux  a  sang 
rouge  et  chaud.     In:  /.  de  Physiol,  exper..  1821,  i,  p.  i. 

25.  Sur  un  mouvement  de  la  moelle  epiniere  isochrone  a  1.  respiration. 
In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  200. 

26.  Note  sur  introduction  d.  liquids  visqueux  dans  1.  organes  d.  1.  cir- 
culation et  sur  1.  formation  du  foie  gras  d.  oiseaux.  In :  /.  de  physiol. 
exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  37. 

27.  Experience  sur  1.  rage.    In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  41. 

28.  Memoire  sur  I.  vaisseaux  lymphatiques  d.  oiseaux.  In:  /.  de 
physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  53. 

29.  Memoire  sur  1.  structure  d.  poumon  d.  I'homme;  sur  1.  modifica- 
tions qu'  eprouve  cette  structure  dans  1.  divers  ages,  et  sur  1.  premiere 
origine  de  1.  phthisic  pulmonaire.     In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  78. 

30.  Considerations  generales  sur  1.  circulation  du  sang.  In :  /.  de  phy- 
siol. exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  97. 

31.  De  I'influence  d.  mouvements  d.  1.  poitrine  et  d.  efforts  s.  1.  circu- 
lation d.  sang.     In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  132. 

32.  Sur  I'entree  accidentelle  d.  I'air  dans  1.  veines,  sur  1.  mort  subite 
qui  en  est  I'eflFet;  sur  1.  moyens  d.  prevenir  cet  accident  et  d'y  remedier. 
In:  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  190. 

33.  Sur  1.  organes  qui  tendent  ou  relachent  1.  membrane  d.  tympan,  et 
1.  chaine  d.  osselets  de  I'ouie,  dans  I'homme  et  1.  animaux  mammiferes.  In: 
/.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1821,  i,  p.  341. 


64  A   BIOGRAPHY  OF   FRANCOIS    MAGENDIE. 

34.  Anatomie  d'un  chien  cyclope  et  astome.  In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper., 
1821.  i,  p.  374- 

35.  Fievre  intermittente  pernicieuse  guerie  par  un  faible  dose  d.  sulphat 
d.  quinine.    In:  /.  de  Physiol,  expcr.,  1821,  i.  p.  393. 

36.  Bichat  (Xav).  Recherches  physiologiques  sur  la  vie  et  la  mort. 
Avec  des  additions  par  Fr.  Magendie.  Paris,  1822.  (Several  editions  and 
translations  of  the  same.) 

37  Histoire  d'une  malade  singuliere  du  systeme  nerveux.  In  /.  de 
physiol.  cxpcr.,  1822,  ii,  p.  99. 

38.  Memoire  sur  plusieurs  organes  propres  aux  oiseaux  et  aux  rep- 
tiles.    In:  /.  dc  physiol.  exper.,  1822,  ii,  p.  184. 

39.  Magendie  &  Desmoulins.  Note  sur  ranatomie  d.  1.  lamproie.  In : 
/.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1822,  ii,  p.  224. 

40.  Experiences  sur  1.  fonctions  d.  racines  d.  nerfs  rachidiens.  In :  /. 
de  physiol.  exper.,  1822,  ii,  p.  276. 

41.  Experiences  sur  1.  fonctions  d.  racines  d.  nerfs  qui  naissent  d.  1. 
moellc  epiniere.     In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1822,  ii,  p.  366. 

42.  Memoire  sur  quelques  decouvertes  recentes  relatives  aux  fonctions 
du  systeme  nerveux.     Paris,  1823. 

43  Magendie  &  Dumeril.  Rapport  a  I'academie  royale  des  sciences 
relatif  aux  planches  anatomiques  du  corps  humain  par  Antommarchi.  In : 
Revue  encyclopcdique,  May,  1823,  xviii,  53  cahier. 

44.  Remarques  sur  une  fievre  muqueuse  et  adynamique  observee  par 
P.  L.  Dupre;  avec  quelques  experiences  sur  1.  effets  d.  substance  en  putre- 
faction.    In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1823,  iii,  p.  81. 

45.  Note  sur  !.  siege  du  movement  et  du  sentiment  dans  la  moelle 
epiniere.     In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1823,  iii,  p.  153. 

46.  Remarques  sur  une  destruction  d'une  grande  partie  d.  moelle 
epiniere.     In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1823,  iii,  p.  186. 

47.  Note  sur  1.  fonctions  d.  corps  stries  et  d.  tubercules  quadri  jumeaux. 
In :  J.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1823,  iii,  p.  376. 

48.  Histoire  d'un  hydrophobe  traite  a  I'Hotel-Dieu  d.  Paris,  au  moyen 
d.  I'injection  d.  I'eau  dans  I.  veins.  In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1823,  iii, 
P-  382. 

49.  Lc  nerf  olfactif  est-il  I'organe  d.  I'odorat?  Experiences  sur  cette 
question.     In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1824,  iv,  p.  i6g. 

so.  De  I'influence  d.  1.  cinquieme  paire  d.  nerfs  sur  1.  nutrition  et  1. 
fonctions  d.  I'ceil.    In  :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1824,  iv,  pp.  176  and  302. 

51.  Memoire  sur  les  fonctions  d.  quelques  parties  du  systeme  nerveux. 
In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1824,  iv,  p.  399. 

52.  Desmoulins  (A.)  Anatomie  des  systemes  nerveux  des  animaux  a 
vertebres,  appliquee  a  la  physiologic  et  a  la  zoologie.  Ouvrage  dont  la 
partie  physiologique  est  faite  conjointement  avec  F.  Magendie.  2  vols. 
and  atlas.     Paris,  1825. 

53.  Memoire  sur  un  liquide  qui  se  trouve  dans  1.  crane  et  le  canal  verte- 
bral de  I'homme  et  des  animaux  mammiferes.  In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper., 
1825,  V,  p.  27. 

54.  Sur  I'insensibilite  d.  1.  retine  de  I'homme.  In:  /.  de  physiol.  exper., 
1825,  V,  p.  37. 

55.  Histoire  d'un  sourd-muet  gueri  d.  son  infirmite  a  I'age  d.  neuf 
ans.    In:  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1825,  v,  p.  223. 


APPENDIX.  6S 

56.  Notice  sur  I'heureuse  application  d.  galvanistne  aux  nerfs  d.  I'cEil. 
In :  Arch.  gen.  de  med.,  1826,  ii. 

57.  Sur  I'emploi  d.  galvanisme  dans  le  traitement  d.  I'amaurose.  In : 
Bull.  d.  sc.  med.,  1826,  ix. 

58.  Sur  un  nouveau  traitement  d.  I'amaurose.  In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper., 
1826,  vi,  p.  156. 

59.  Sur  deux  nouvelles  especes  d.  gravelles.     In ;  /.  de  physiol.  exper., 

1826,  vi,  p.  297. 

60.  Bichat  (Xav).  Traite  des  membranes  en  general  et  des  diverses 
membranes  en  particulier.  Revue  et  augmentee  par  M.  Magendie.  Paris, 
1827. 

61.  (Second)  Memoire  sur  le  liquide  qui  se  trouve  dans  le  crane  et 
I'epine  de  rhomme  et  des  animaux  vertebres.  Premiere  partie.  In :  /.  de 
physiol.  exper.,  1827,  vii,  p.  i;  Deuxieme  partie,  ibid.,  p.  17;  Troisieme 
partie,  ibid.,  p.  66. 

62.  Extrait  d.  1.  dissertation  d.  Cotugno,  De  Ischiade  Nervosa,  continue 
dans  1.  Thesaurus  Dissertationum  d.  Sandifort;  avec  quelques  reflexions. 
In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1827,  vii,  p.  83. 

63.  Ligature  d.   I'artere  carotide  primative.     In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper., 

1827,  vii,  p.  iSo. 

64.  Memoire  physiologique  sur  le  cerveau.    Paris,  1828. 

65  La  vue  peut-elle  etre  conservee  malgre  I.  destruction  d.  nerf 
optique?    In:  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1828,  viii,  p.  27. 

66.  Ulcerations  anciennes  d.  1.  langue  et  d.  pharynx,  gueries  par 
I'hydroiodate  d.  potasse.  In ;  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1828,  viii,  p.  34. 

67.  Memoire  physiologique  sur  1.   cerveau.     In:  /.   de  physiol.  exper., 

1828,  viii,  p.  211. 

68.  Sur  I'emploi  d.  galvanisme  dans  le  traitement  d.  I'amaurose.  In : 
Bull.  d.  sc.  med.,  1826,  ix. 

69.  Rapport  f?it  a  I'academie  d.  sciences  sur  une  memoire  d.  M.  Leroy- 
d'EtiolIes  relatif  a  I'insufflation  d.  poumon,  consideree  comme  moyen  d. 
secours  a  donner  aux  personnes  noyees  ou  asphyxiees.  In :  /.  de  physiol. 
exper.,  1829,  ix,  p.  97. 

70.  Rapport  fait  a  son  excellence  M.  de  Vatimesnil,  ministre  de  I'instruc- 
tion  publique,  sur  une  methode  dite  statilegie,  proposee  par  M.  Laffore, 
pour  enseigner  a  lire  en  peu  d  leQons,  au  nom.  d.  une  commission  composee 
d.  MM.  d.  Cardaillac,  professeur  de  philosophic;  Letronne,  inspecteur- 
general  d.  etudes ;  et  Magendie,  membre  d.  I'academie  des  sciences,  rap- 
porteur.    In :  /.  de  physiol.  exper.,  1829,  ix,  p.  364. 

71.  Rapport  a  I'academie  des  sciences  sur  1.  memoire  d.  M.  L.-F.-Emm. 
Rosseau:  De  I'emploi  d.  feuilles  d.  houx  (ilex  aqui folium)  dans  le  fievres 
intermittentes.    Paris,  1831. 

72.  Rapport  avec  Dumeril  sur  1.  maladies  scrofuleuses  traitees  a 
I'hopital  Saint-Louis  par  M.  Lugol.     In :  Arch.  gen.  d.  med.,  1831,  xxv. 

yZ-  Cholera-morbus  de  Sunderland.  In :  Rez<.  med.  frang.  et  Strang., 
1832,  i. 

74.  Leqons  sur  le  cholera  morbus,  faites  au  College  de  France,  revues 
par  le  professeur,  recueillies  et  publiees  avec  son  autorisation,  par  Eugene 
Cadres  et  Hippolyte  Prevost.     Paris,  1832. 

75.  The  same.  Vorlesungen  iiber  die  epidemische  cholera.  .  .  . 
Deutsch  bearbeitet  von  S.  Hirsch.    Leipzig,  1839. 


66  A   BIOGRAPHY  OF   FRANQOIS    MAGENDIE. 

76.  Rapport  fait  a  I'Academie  royale  des  sciences,  sur  I'ouvrage  du  Dr. 
A.  Legrand,    Paris,  1832. 

77.  Memoire  sur  I'origine  des  bruits  normaux  du  cceur.    Paris,  1834. 

78.  Action  exercee  sur  les  animaux  et  sur  rhomme  malade  par  I'nitro- 
sulphate  d'ammoniaque.     In:  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  sc,  1835,  i,  p.  86. 

79.  Legons  sur  les  phenomenes  physiques  de  la  vie,  professees  au  Col- 
lege de  France.  Recueillies  par  M.  Constantin  James.  Paris,  vol.  I,  1835; 
vol.  2,  1836;  vol.  3,  1837;  vol.  4,  1838. 

79.  Phenomenes  physiques  de  la  vie.  Leqons  professees  au  College  de 
France.     4  vols.    Paris,  1842. 

79a.  The  same.  Vorlesungen  iiber  die  physikalischen  Erscheinungen 
des  Lebens.  Mit  Magendie's  Hinzuziehung  und  Unterstiitzung  aus  dem 
Franzosischen  iibersetzt  von  Dr.  Baswitz.     Koln,  1837. 

79b.  Lectures  on  the  blood  and  on  the  changes  which  it  undergoes 
during  disease.  Delivered  at  the  College  of  France  in  1837-8.  Philadel- 
phia, 1839. 

80.  Communication  relative  a  una  gucrison  obtenue  par  des  courants 
electriques  portes  directement  sur  la  corde  d.  tympan ;  restitution  des  sens 
d.  gout  et  d.  I'ouie  abolis  par  suite  d.  una  commotion  cerebrale.  Deduc- 
tions tirees  d.  ce  fait  quant  a  I'origine  d.  nerf  d.  tympan.  In:  Compt.  rend. 
Acad.  d.  sc,  1836,  ii,  p.  447. 

81.  Note  sur  le  traitement  d.  certaines  aflfections  nerveuses,  par  I'elec- 
tropuncture  d.  nerfs.    In:  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  sc,  1837,  v,  p.  855. 

82.  Legons  sur  les  fonctions  et  les  maladies  du  systeme  nerveux  pro- 
fessees au  College  de  France.     Paris.  1839.     2  vnls. 

83.  Resultats  de  quelques  nouvelles  experiences  sur  les  nerfs  sensitifs  et 
sur  les  nerfs  moteurs.     In:  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  sc,  1839,  viii,  p.  787. 

84.  Quelques  nouvelles  experiences  sur  les  fonctions  d.  systeme  nerveux. 
In :  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  sc,  1839,  viii,  p.  865. 

85.  Notes  sur  1.  paralysie  et  1.  nevralgie  d.  visage.  In :  Compt.  rend. 
Acad.  d.  sc.  1839,  viii,  p.  951. 

86.  Tableau  contenant  1.  resultats  d.  recherches  sur  I.  variations  d. 
proportions  d.  quelques-uns  d.  elements  d.  sang  dans  certaines  maladies. 
In :  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  sc,  1840,  xi,  p.  161. 

87.  Recherches  physiologiques  et  cliniques  sur  le  liquide  cephalo-rachi- 
dien  ou  cerebro-spinal.     Paris,  1842. 

88.  Communication  relative  a  un  cas  de  cow-pox,  et  a  I'inoculation  d. 
1.  matiere  d.  pustules  sur  plusiaurs  enfants.  In:  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d. 
sc,  1844,  xviii,  p.  986. 

89.  Etude  comparative  d.  1.  salive  parotidienne  et  d.  1.  saliva  mixte  d. 
cheval.  sous,  1.  rapport  d.  leur  composition  chemique  et  d.  leur  action  sur 
1.  aliments.     In :  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  sc,  1845,  xxi,  p.  902. 

90.  Note  sur  le  presence  normal  d.  sucre  dans  1.  sang.  In :  Compt. 
rend.  Acad.  d.  sc,  1846,  xxiii,  p.  189. 

91.  Note  sur  1.  sensibilite  recurrent.  In:  Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  sc, 
1847,  xxiv,  p.  1 130. 

93.  De  I'influance  d.  nerfs  rachidiens  sur  les  mouvements  du  cceur.  In : 
Compt.  rend.  Acad.  d.  sc,  1847,  xxv,  pp.  875  and  926. 

94.  Lemons  faitres  au  College  de  France  pendant  le  semestre  d'hiver 
(1851-2),  recueillies  et  analysees  par  V.-A.  Faugonneau-Dufrasne.  Paris, 
1852. 


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A  biography  of  Frangc 

3is  Magendie. 

^  1 

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